Cyber chief Mike Rogers lauds US vote integrity

Former National Security Agency director and cyber security commander Mike Rogers has lauded the integrity of the US election system.

Admiral Mike Rogers.

Former National Security Agency director and cyber security commander Mike Rogers has lauded the integrity of the US election system, declaring there were no significant procedural errors or proof of widespread fraud.

Admiral Rogers, NSA chief under Donald Trump and Barack Obama between 2014 and 2018, said US citizens should be “incredibly proud” of taking part in an election held against the backdrop of the worst health and economic crisis in a century.

The former US Cyber Command and Central Security Service head, who led the pushback against Russian disinformation campaigns that dominated the wash-up of the 2016 election, said he understood those outside of the US may be confused by the election process.

“To non-US individuals who look at us right now, many are drawing the conclusion, oh boy, we don’t understand this. It’s a perplexing system, it doesn’t seem sharp, it doesn’t seem clean. My comment would be step back,” Admiral Rogers said.

“I am incredibly proud, as a citizen of the United States, that in the midst of the greatest health crisis we’ve had in 100 years, in the midst of the greatest economic challenges we’ve faced in almost 90 years, and in the face of some of the greatest social inequality and social divisiveness we’ve experienced in decades … we executed an election that generated the largest turnout ever by sheer number.”

Admiral Rogers said while he wasn’t arguing “everything was perfect”, Americans should “feel good about” taking part in a historic election. “We did it in an environment in which there was no significant violence, no significant or widespread procedural errors and no proof or indications of widespread fraud or abuse. That is something to be incredibly proud of,” he said.

Admiral Rogers was this week appointed to the CyberCX Global Cyber Security Advisory Board, which will include representatives across the Five Eyes nations. He will work with CyberCX, Australia’s largest private sector cyber security firm, to support its expansion into the US.

The navy veteran, who retired from service in mid-2018, said the Trump administration had acknowledged cyber was a tool the US should “develop and needed to consider within the range of options available to the nation”.

“I was part of the Trump administration, and I was part of the Obama administration. I worked with then vice-president Biden, he was part of the national security team, as was I. But I don’t want to speak for Biden president-elect. He has to decide what the right course is.”

Admiral Rogers, awarded an honorary Order of Australia by former governor-general Peter Cosgrove last year in front of the nation’s security chiefs, said the US understood “cyber is a capability that we should have within our quiver”.

Ahead of last month’s budget, Scott Morrison announced a $1.67bn Cyber Security Strategy to combat the wave of state-based and criminal actors deploying cyber attacks against all levels of government, critical infrastructure and the private sector.

Speaking from a US experience, Admiral Rogers said he had argued “if we’re going to force every cyber application to be decided in the White House we are never going to get where we need to be”.