U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday that there are “ongoing” threats -- primarily coming from Russian sources -- to election security in the upcoming midterms. Speaking at the daily White House briefing, they emphasized that President Trump wants to address this concern as a top priority.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and FBI Director Christopher Wray took questions during the briefing, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and Gen. Paul Nakasone, who heads U.S. Cyber Command.

“The president has specifically directed us to make the matter of election meddling and securing our election process a top priority,” said Coats. He said the focus remains on Russia but that the government is monitoring other countries that have similar capabilities and interest in election meddling. “In regards to Russian involvement in the midterm elections, we continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign … to try to weaken and divide the United States,” he said.

When asked if the new threats are more sophisticated than those in 2016 or aimed at a specific party, Coats said the intelligence agencies have not seen evidence of that: “They stepped up their game big time in 2016. We have not seen that kind of robust effort from them so far.”

The officials said the main goal of the briefing was to acknowledge the threats and let the American people know they are being addressed. They said agencies learned their lesson from the 2016 election but said responding is an ongoing effort as new threats pop up.

“Our democracy itself is in the crosshairs,” said Nielsen. She explained that DHS is focused on election infrastructure and is working with state and local election officials to help identify weakness in their systems, describing the effort as “tailored support.” She said that all 50 states and the District of Columbia have partnered with the agency to strengthen their systems.

Wray said that private companies like Facebook and other social media sites have a “very important” role to play in protecting Americans from these threats. He said much of the bureau’s strategy in addressing attempted meddling is working with social media and technology companies and sharing information in a team effort.

“We have to have a public-private partnership in this particular threat,” said Wray, adding that these companies need to be active in “policing” their own sites. He said that there is currently more shared information between the government and these private companies, calling the cooperation much more “robust” than it was before.

Wray was also asked about the president’s questioning of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his campaign, which led last month to the indictment of 12 Russians. Trump has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the probe and as recently as this week again called for it to end.

“I can assure the American people that the men and women at the FBI — starting from the director all the way on down — are going to follow our oaths and do our jobs,” Wray responded.

Officials were asked if a possible government shutdown would derail their efforts. On Sunday, the president indicated he is willing to shut down the government if Congress does not agree to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Nielsen replied that election protections are a priority and states would continue to receive requested aid from her department.