CISA Told to Hack Voting Machine, Hide Flaws From Maker
Two former administration officials told the outlet that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was instructed to hand any findings to the White House and withhold discovered vulnerabilities from the machine’s manufacturer, a sharp departure from standard practice.
Career employees feared the directive could pave the way for political meddling. One former official said that “my thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any (election) results they don’t like.”
CISA staff repeatedly told the appointees the job was impossible, in part because the experts qualified to do it had been fired under billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The appointees ultimately abandoned the effort, the report said.
The episode comes as CISA has shrunk dramatically. More than 1,000 employees have been laid off or forced out since Trump returned to the White House, shrinking the agency by about one-third. His 2027 budget request calls for a further $700 million cut, a reduction that could eliminate 900 more positions.
Election officials in several states said CISA gave them no assistance as they prepared for the midterms.
“There is a difference between deprioritizing and being nonexistent,” said Ryan Macias, an election security expert who has advised the agency, according to the report.
States also say trust has eroded after the administration released declassified 2020 election records that contained sensitive information they had shared with CISA in confidence.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said he told acting CISA Director Nick Andersen during an August call that he did not trust him.
“What they’ve done is basically cut us off and left us on our own,” Fontes said.
CISA published a 13-page election security plan on Sept. 24. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said the offer of help came “too little, too late.”
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said Trump “has done more than any other president to ensure we have free and fair elections.”
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