Washington (CNN) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the US has a "great deal more work to do" to safeguard the integrity of American elections ahead of the upcoming 2018 midterms.

"I have to say there is more work to do," Pompeo told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We have not been able to achieve deterrence, effective deterrence of some of these efforts of the Russians."

Asked if the administration has forestalled the next attack on US democracy, Pompeo said: "No responsible government official would ever state that they have done enough to forestall any attack on the United States of America."

"We work diligently on it each day we reduce threats, we take them from the battlefield, we take them from the economic sphere, we reduce them diplomatically, we work hard at it every day but I will never share with you that I believe we have accomplished that to 100% certainty," he said.

However, Pompeo also added that he is "incredibly proud" of the Trump administration's efforts to counter Russia, which he described as "light years" ahead of previous administrations.

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