Trump gutted the agency built to stop election interference
By: Brian Bennett (MS NOW)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump says he is worried about foreign interference in U.S. elections. That was the reason he gave when he released declassified intelligencedocuments last week that ended up undercutting his own baseless claims about rigged elections.
In his primetime address on July 16, Trump said the U.S. "must take urgent action" to protect voting infrastructure against foreign actors. But shortly after taking office last year, Trump gutted a key agency designed to protect America's elections from exactly that.
It's called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — an office created during Trump's first term. CISA is one of the main federal partners for states on election security, sharing intelligence on potential threats to voting infrastructure and providing quick regional support.
After Trump returned to office, the cyber agency housed under the Department of Homeland Security took a major hit. Elon Musk's DOGE fired more than 100 workers, including election security advisers. More than 600 others were placed on administrative leave, were reassigned or took buyouts.
Now the Trump administration is telling states they will only receive resources if they hand over voter rolls to be screened through a new federal database that a judge recently deemed unlawful in its current form.
That database is known as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, which experts and a federal judge are concerned has a high error rate that could disenfranchise voters.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said CISA will release an "election infrastructure plan" in the next 30 days — barely three months out from the midterms, which will determine which party controls Congress.
"If they participate in the SAVE program, we'll provide the resources and training to support state election integrity," Mullin said last week. "We're not trying to change the outcome."
'They're flying blind'
Multiple current and former senior election and national security officials told MS NOW that they could not recall a time when the federal government held back resources and money meant to secure America's elections.
And multiple state election officials have said they are not receiving any briefings on possible foreign threats to election security from the federal government. Such briefings were once a regular occurrence, they said.
"They're flying blind," said a former senior national security official, who served during Trump's first administration and was granted anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject. "It is late July and there is no CISA election security plan for the 2026 midterms."
During the first Trump administration, "we were collaborative — carrots rather than sticks," said the former official. The second Trump administration is "very much focused on sticks."
One election official in a swing state said the difference from 2024 is stark, saying that "it's every state for themselves." The official spoke on the condition of anonymity over concerns about retaliation from federal officials. During the last cycle, the state official said they had a regional federal cybersecurity expert "on speed dial" who could "see the whole puzzle."
That doesn't exist anymore, and without it, the state election official said, "we're less informed on the pattern of the attackers and are slower to respond."
"I've literally never heard anybody effectively say 'to keep you safe, you have to give me what I want,'" said the swing state election official, referring to DHS threats to withhold resources if states don't hand over sensitive voter data.
The risks compound at the local level, they added: "Does [a clerk's] laptop have the IT infrastructure to defend against an attack from Iran? That's what keeps me up at night."
Cait Conley, a West Point graduate and combat veteran who served as the senior adviser to the director of CISA during the Biden administration, accused Trump of gutting the agency and sowing doubt about the security of U.S. elections in his speech last week.
"If Donald Trump were truly concerned about election security, he would not have fired hundreds of federal workers whose jobs were to secure our elections," she said. Conley is now running for Congress in New York as a Democrat.
"His lies and misrepresentations are very clearly trying to lay the groundwork for calling this November's election results into question when his party loses," she said.
When asked about election officials telling MS NOW that they have received no intelligence briefings on possible foreign threats to election security, and have no access to regional cybersecurity advisers, DHS did not respond. DHS also did not respond directly to questions about the agency withholding resources unless states hand over voter data.
Instead, they provided a statement from acting CISA Director Nick Andersen, which said CISA "works with critical infrastructure owners and operators to assist them in securing both the physical security and cybersecurity of the systems and assets that support the nation's elections."
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And there are some, the un-American/ anti-American types, even some on here, who think that "Trump doesn't look so bad". Just amazing.
3 months probably isn't enough time to confiscate all the firearms from americans that are still loyal to the US constitution.
at what point, under trump's relentless and continuous attacks upon our constitution, are normal law abiding citizens allowed to fight back?
In a democracy, the best way to fight back is to VOTE. Look at what the Hungarian people did to Trump's neo-fascist soulmate Orban. Overwhelming rejection at the ballot box.
I won't be waiting 8 years for trump's interference in the midterms to make it's way thru the courts, only to end up in front of a christo-fascist dominated SCOTUS ...
Trump definitely doesn't want election integrity, he wants to steal elections. It's the only way someone that stupid can win. Now he wants to run in 2028? Fuck him.
That's not new. He's been touting that for years.
Tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people, in America and around the world, agree.
by violating the constitution, trump is dancing in a mine field, and it's only a matter of time ...
I've seen "Trump 2028" flags around here.
... did you feel owned ?
magas singling themselves out where I live is a rarity ...
I did notice that a prominent loud and proud teabag/maga home and barn I see in my local travels just got a paint job covering their political messages and their flags have disappeared. I guess the owner either croaked or became disillusioned, after 16 or so years of ignorance and gullibility ...
maybe the widow went back to traditional with some of the life insurance money ...
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Is there some evidence that supports these concerns?
Yes. Do you actually think they have concerns that are unsupported by any evidence? You can start here:
You could have found this information if you are really interested.
I think you've discovered what he's really interested in, trolling ...
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