Former special counsel Robert Mueller offered nothing new and likely changed no minds with his seven hours of testimony before two congressional committees this week outlining his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He recounted the troubling contacts between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign. He repeated that the investigation did not find the president conspired with Russians, and that it "did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime'' regarding obstruction. Lost in the hunt for drama and revelations was that Russia's interference was serious and sweeping, its meddling continues and that other nations are adopting the same strategies. That should be a rallying cry for strengthening America's electoral system.

It is easy to understand why the former FBI director was a reluctant witness, as Democrats and Republicans used his televised appearance as a stage to attack or defend the Trump campaign and the president's conduct in office. Mueller flatly rejected Trump's characterization of the investigation as a "witch hunt," and the president's contention that he had been "exonerated" of allegations that he had obstructed the inquiry. Yet Mueller did not embellish on his 448-page report, and he rebuffed repeated attempts by lawmakers from both political parties to mischaracterize his findings for political purposes.

If anything, the most important finding of the Mueller investigation — the depths and reach of Russian interference — was the least explored. Those findings, which began as a series of plants of Russian intelligence operatives in the United States in 2014 "to sow discord in the U.S. political system," should have brought Republicans and Democrats together in pushing back foreign meddling. Mueller found that the Russian program morphed from a general effort to undermine the U.S. electoral system "to a targeted operation that by early 2016 favored candidate Trump and disparaged (Democratic) candidate (Hillary) Clinton," involving the hacking of computers belonging to Clinton and the Democratic Party, the release of stolen emails and other campaign materials, phony social media accounts and other dirty tricks aimed at undermining Clinton and helping Trump.

Every American of every political stripe is impacted by such foreign interference in our democracy. Russia's sabotage and the Trump campaign's open encouragement of it was, as Mueller himself described Wednesday, "problematic" and gave "some hope or some boost to what is and should be illegal activity." Yet Trump said as recently as June he would gladly listen if a foreign government offered him dirt on a political opponent.

Mueller's report is an opportunity to examine weaknesses in American society, from computer and social media networks to elections processes and cyber-security efforts, that create fertile hunting grounds for foreign adversaries to attack the nation's democratic system. Mueller broke away from the confines of his report Wednesday and urged lawmakers to improve information-sharing among federal agencies and the government's ability to alert campaigns targeted by foreign actors. Florida, for its part, is spending tens of millions of dollars to improve election security. These are ongoing threats requiring an ongoing response.