To the Editor:

Re “Russians Hunted Election Defects in All 50 States” (front page, July 26):

Why is the report from the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee so heavily redacted? Is it to try to limit speculation that Russian efforts actually changed the outcome of some 2016 elections (including perhaps the election of the president)?

Would more information about what was detected reveal secret United States intelligence sources and methods? Is it an effort to conceal American intelligence failures in 2016? Could it be to hide the fact that we are powerless to prevent such interference in the future? Or something else?

With the very core of our democratic process at stake — and with continuing Republican efforts to thwart improved election security — we urgently need to know precisely why we are being told so little.

Stephen Dycus

Strafford, Vt.

The writer teaches national security law at Vermont Law School.

To the Editor:

Two questions regarding Russian interference in our elections:

Why did Russia influence our presidential election in favor of Donald Trump?