The country's election infrastructure is in better shape heading into next month's election than it has been for any previous event in modern history, according to the government official overseeing preparations.

"I think this is probably going to be the most secure election in the modern era because of the amount of work we've done with state and local election officials who are, by the Constitution, by law, responsible for administering elections, federal elections," Christopher Krebs, undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security's National Protection and Programs Directorate, told PBS "Newshour" Thursday evening.

But Krebs warned that being prepared does not mean nations do not plan to attack the U.S., states, or local jurisdictions the day of the election or in the final weeks leading up to Nov. 6.

"Given our experience of 2016 and what we saw the Russians attempt to do across the nation's election equipment — election infrastructure, we certainly have a degree of concern of what their capability ... is and their prior intent has demonstrated," said Krebs. "So that's kind of been the planning factor that we've been working against, the fact whether they come back or not."

In early 2017, the government announced that Russia had tried to extract information from voter registration systems. Since then, Russia has largely been reported as the biggest threat to America's democratic process, but Krebs said China is just as great a concern, if not greater.

Vice President Mike Pence said this week that Russia's attempts to meddle in U.S. elections — whether by hacking into voter registration systems or pushing bogus news stories through state-sponsored media outlets — pale in comparison to China's moves.

[More: Trump signs executive order providing for election meddling sanctions against foreigners]

The Russians, according to Krebs, have been "noisier" by attempting to get into election equipment and sow discord on social media.

"The Russians are much more tactical and operational and here and today, you know. For them, a strong U.S. doesn't really benefit them in the long run," said Krebs.

"The Chinese, however, we have a relationship ... They want our outcomes, our policy objectives to align with their longer-term goals." he said. "The Chinese are much more strategic, much more under the radar, perhaps, with a longer, more strategic game in play."

He said both are using news outlets that the governments run to control the information the public is seeing about specific stories.

"Think back to 2016 and what the Russians attempted to do. They used their state-sponsored media outlets of Sputnik and RT to amplify messaging and drive false narratives. China's doing the same thing with China Daily," said Krebs. "They're carrying a message on behalf of Beijing in this case. So while it may meet some journalistic standard, they're still trying to accomplish an outcome and achieve their own policy objectives through these efforts."

The U.S. government has not documented any "successful" attempts by outsiders to hack into election infrastructure in this cycle, he said.