| The Cyber and Tech Overnights are joining forces to give you Hillicon Valley, The Hill's new comprehensive newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Welcome! Follow the cyber team, Morgan Chalfant (@mchalfant16) and Olivia Beavers (@olivia_beavers), and the tech team, Ali Breland (@alibreland) and Harper Neidig (@hneidig), on Twitter. Contact us with scoops, tips and comments. MUELLER MYSTERY: In the year since the start of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, one thing has been notably absent: a public indictment of any Russians for the hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Mueller has charged President Trump's former campaign chief, secured guilty pleas from several individuals in Trump's orbit and indicted 13 Russians for an elaborate plot to leverage social media to influence the American electorate. But the special counsel has yet to announce charges for the hacking of the DNC, even though the intelligence community and private cybersecurity experts linked the attack to the Russian government more than a year ago. Why? Legal experts say there are several possible explanations. "[The reasons] can range from, there's no evidence of any known individuals, to publicly announcing the indictment would compromise other aspects of the investigation," said Mark Zaid, a Washington-based attorney specializing in national security. Mueller also might not be able to reveal the "information they might possess to prove the case," Zaid said because it could compromise intelligence sources or methods. Experts broadly agreed that the lack of a public indictment should not be interpreted as a sign that charges have not been brought for the hacking. "There may be one and it may be sealed," said Jack Sharman, a former special prosecutor to Congress for the Whitewater investigation, adding that prosecutors often file indictments under seal when "they don't want to alert targets and potentially useful witnesses that in fact somebody has already been charged." Some clues: Reports in recent months have suggested Mueller's team has compiled enough evidence to charge those suspected for the DNC attack. If no charges have been brought, it's possible the special counsel's team is still building a case against the suspects or wants to understand the full scope of what happened. What we don't know: One of the main unanswered questions for Mueller is whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign was involved in the theft or release of the hacked emails. Read more from our piece here. TODAY ON THE HILL: TRUMP OFFICIALS BRIEF LAWMAKERS ON ELECTION SECURITY: Top U.S. officials briefed members of Congress behind closed doors Tuesday on hacking threats to upcoming elections and efforts by the Trump administration to counter them. The classified briefing on election security took place Tuesday morning in the U.S. Capitol, as voters in Arkansas, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky headed to the polls. The briefing, arranged by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), represented an effort by Republicans in Congress and the administration to address mounting concerns about the security of U.S. voting infrastructure following Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Russia's efforts included targeting of state voter registration databases and other digital election systems. Democrats have accused President Trump, who has railed against the special counsel investigation into Russian meddling, of turning a blind eye to the threat of future election interference. "We all remain committed. This is a national security issue," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told reporters following the briefing. "We take it very seriously." Nielsen, along with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, briefed House lawmakers on the current threat landscape and efforts by the Trump administration to counter future foreign influence operations targeting U.S. elections. The classified briefing lasted just over an hour Tuesday morning. It was not widely attended -- attracting only between 40 and 50 members, by some accounts. Most lawmakers emerged tight-lipped from the briefing, unwilling to share details of what they heard. For more on the briefing, click here. WHY NIELSEN IS ATTRACTING SCRUTINY: Speaking to reporters following the closed-door briefing, Nielsen said that she has not seen the U.S. intelligence community's specific judgment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win. "I do not believe that I have seen that conclusion," Nielsen told reporters following a closed-door briefing on election security with members of Congress, though she added that she has "no reason to doubt any intelligence community assessment" in general. Background: The unclassified assessment released by top U.S. officials in January 2017 said that Moscow sought to interfere in the election in order to undermine the American democratic process, damage Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and assist Trump. Nielsen, who was sworn in as Homeland Security secretary in December, indicated Tuesday that she was unaware of that assessment. Key quote: "That the specific intent was to help President Trump win I am not aware of that...," Nielsen said. "I want to be very clear what we have seen the Russians do is attempt to manipulate public confidence on both sides. We've seen them encourage people to go to a protest on one side," she added. "We've seen them simultaneously encourage to people to go the same protest on the other side. I think what they are trying to do is to disrupt our belief and our own understanding of what's happening." Pushback: A representative of Nielsen's defended her Tuesday comments, saying the reporter's question that preceded them was misleading. "The Secretary has previously reviewed the Intelligence Community's assessment and agrees with it – as she stated today and previously. She also very clearly articulated today that the Russian government unequivocally worked to undermine our democracy during the 2016 election," a spokesman for Nielsen said. More on the controversy here. ZTE LATEST - TRUMP INSISTS 'NO DEAL': President Trump said Tuesday that there is no deal to save Chinese company ZTE, which is facing heavy fines and sanctions in the United States. Trump told reporters that he is doing Chinese President Xi Jinping a favor by looking into how to breathe life back into the company that the Commerce Department has effectively shut down. "President Xi and I have a great relationship, but there is no deal," Trump said at the White House. "We will see what happens. We are discussing deals. We're discussing various deals." More here. Hold on... The Wall Street Journal, though, reported earlier Tuesday that the Trump administration and China were closing in on a deal to ease off ZTE in exchange for trade concessions. That report raised concerns among lawmakers of both parties who have advocated for a crackdown on Chinese technology companies. Background: The intelligence community and trade regulators have warned the company poses a national security risk for the U.S. Lawmakers act: Also on Tuesday, a Senate panel rebuked Trump's efforts to ease sanctions on ZTE. The Senate Banking Committee approved an amendment in an overwhelming and bipartisan 23-2 vote that would block Trump from easing sanctions on ZTE without first certifying to Congress that the company is complying with U.S. law. "If the president and his team won't follow through on tough sanctions against ZTE, it's up to Congress to ensure that it happens," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. The amendment, offered by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), was attached to a bill that would give regulators more authority to block foreign investment in the U.S. NO DEMS INVITED TO BRIEFING ON RUSSIA DOCS: The White House announced top U.S. officials will brief lawmakers on Thursday about a confidential FBI source who has been a lightning rod for controversy in the Russia probe -- but no Democrats are invited. More from our White House reporter Jordan Fabian here. NEW PENTAGON RESTRICTIONS ON MOBILE DEVICES: The Pentagon is tightening some of its policies on the use of mobile devices in the Pentagon, but will continue to allow cellphones to be brought into the building after a months-long review on the issue, according to a Defense Department memo released Tuesday. The new policy sets new restrictions for cellphones and some electronic devices in Pentagon areas designated for processing, handling or discussing classified information, according to the document, which was first obtained by The Associated Press and later released publicly. The memo, signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, notes that cellphones can still be used in common areas and other Pentagon offices if classified information is not present. It also appears to make clear the current practice that requires phones be left in "daily-use storage containers that are located outside the secure space" where sensitive materials are handled or discussed. Context: The memo comes after Defense Secretary James Mattis in January weighed a ban on allowing civilian employees at the Pentagon to bring their personal cellphones. More on the new policy here. MEANWHILE, A SENATOR IS PRESSING DOD TO SECURE PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE WEB PAGES: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Tuesday pressed the chief information officer at the Department of Defense (DOD) to immediately adopt cybersecurity best practices for all of the agency's publicly accessible web services. "[T]he Navy, Marines, and your own office's website at dodcio.defense.gov, either do not have secure connections with encryption or only prove their authenticity using a certificate issued by the DoD Root Certificate Authority," Wyden wrote in a letter to the department's CIO, Dana Deasy. "Many mainstream web browsers do not consider these DOD certificates trustworthy and issue scary security warnings that users are forced to navigate before accessing the website's information," he wrote. "The DoD cannot continue these insecure practices," Wyden continued, noting that failing to heed these warnings "will erode the public's trust in the Department and its ability to defend against against sophisticated cyber threats." To read more of our coverage, click here. ACLU BLASTS AMAZON FOR SELLING FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY TO LAW ENFORCEMENT: The ACLU led a coalition of rights groups in demanding that Amazon stop selling facial recognition software to law enforcement. The groups sent a letter Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Tuesday after the ACLU obtained more than a hundred pages of documents on the company's partnerships with police departments. "Amazon Rekognition is primed for abuse in the hands of governments," the letter reads, referring to the company's technology. "This product poses a grave threat to communities, including people of color and immigrants, and to the trust and respect Amazon has worked to build." Amazon though is pushing back. A spokesperson for Amazon Web Services (AWS) told The Hill that Rekognition is not a tool for surveillance, saying that it is merely used to match images from pictures or video with those in a database. The spokesperson said the technology has been used to find abducted people and lost children. ZUCKERBERG'S EUROTRIP: Members of the European Parliament asked pointed questions to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on a range of topics Tuesday during a roughly 90-minute hearing in Brussels. The European lawmakers pressed Zuckerberg over his company's data privacy practices and the spread of fake news and extremist propaganda across Facebook. They also focused on another sensitive area for Facebook: antitrust concerns. Several members pressed Zuckerberg on whether his company is a monopoly. "You have given the example of Twitter and Google of some of your competitors," said one member of parliament, Guy Verhofstadt. "It's like someone who has a monopoly making cars is saying, 'Look, I have a monopoly making cars but there is no problem. You can take a plane, you can take a train. You can even take a bike.'" Farage credits Facebook for giving rise to the right: During Mark Zuckerberg's meeting with EU lawmakers Tuesday, Nigel Farage, the UK representative and the former leader of the country's Independence Party, credited his platform with right-wing successes around the globe. "Historically, of course, it's true that through Facebook and other forms of social media, there's no way that Brexit or Trump or the Italian election could have ever possibly have happened," Farage told Zuckerberg at a hearing before the European Parliament on Tuesday. "It was social media that allowed people to get around the back of mainstream media." SPACEX DELAYED: The U.S. Air Force has delayed the launch of a SpaceX rocket in order to review an upgraded model scheduled to launch into orbit. The launch date has been pushed from this month to October at the earliest. A LIGHTER TWITTER CLICK: Get blocked on Twitter? "Weird." ON TAP: The House Oversight Committee is holding a hearing on federal agencies' implementation of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). The House Homeland Security Committee is holding a hearing on the Islamic State post-caliphate, which is expected to cover the terror group's presence on the internet. NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB: President Trump's cell phone is at risk for hacking. (Politico) The Pentagon wants to use cyberattacks to destroy enemy nuclear missiles before they launch. (The Daily Beast) There's a difference between the controversies surrounding ZTE and Kaspersky Lab. (NextGov) American ISIS supporters are using Facebook to organize. (Vice News) | 
