Trump’s cuts to federal cybersecurity agency CISA leave election officials worried

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

On Election Day last November, counties across the country received a flood of bomb threats targeting polling locations. It was a moment ripe for chaos — a potential national security nightmare that could have disrupted the day’s operations, sowing fear and confusion at polling stations.

But that didn’t happen.

The response was unexpectedly calm. Voters went about their business, and polling places functioned largely without incident.

This smooth operation was the result of years of behind-the-scenes work led by the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA. The agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, had run hundreds of training programs on elections, overseen the development of a threat alert system, and established partnerships between state and federal agencies. It also produced detailed security assessments of election offices nationwide.

A few days after the election, another federal group responsible for circulating communications — the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or EI-ISAC — sent out yet another alert, an email obtained by Votebeat via a public records request shows.

“We wanted to alert you of another round of bomb threats being sent via email to election offices in multiple states across the country,” the alert read.

It listed the source of the emails, and offered instructions for offices that received them.

In the last few weeks, the Trump administration has begun to overhaul CISA in a way that has election officials across the country worried that U.S. elections will not be as robustly monitored and secured as they were in 2024.

The process started with divisions concerned with election security and misinformation. Around 130 CISA employees have been fired.

In a memo sent earlier this month and initially obtained by Wired magazine, CISA’s acting director, Bridget Bean, announced a review of all positions and activities related to election security and combating misinformation. CISA, she said, would pause all election security efforts until the review is complete and halt funding for the EI-ISAC.

The review is set to be finalized on March 6, and will decide the fate of yet more employees.

Last week, the National Association of Secretaries of State sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asking her to retain the services state and local election officials have come to rely on, including security assessments and communication from the EI-ISAC.

“Information technology systems related to election administration have long been targeted by sophisticated cyber threat actors including nation-state and cybercriminal groups,” reads the letter, signed by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat and current NASS president, and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican and NASS president-elect. “CISA’s prioritized services help election entities defend against these national security threats.”

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said the effectiveness of CISA’s work was evident on Election Day, when two-thirds of Arizona’s counties received bomb threats but were able to navigate the situation smoothly. Every county had partnered with CISA to enhance its physical security, including camera placements, safety protocols, and emergency contingency plans.

“I don’t care what part of the alphabet soup these folks end up in — we still need them,” Fontes said. “Our workers can be more confident that our systems will work better with these guys around.”

CISA was established in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, to improve U.S. cybersecurity, including the growing threats to election security, after investigations showed how Russia was able to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Since then, it has helped states strengthen their election security and adapt to the new reality of foreign threats.

“The resources they provide were one of the great successes of the Trump administration,” said Kathy Boockvar, who was secretary of state in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election. “I hope they continue to lead on that.”

Many Republicans have come to view the agency’s efforts — which previously included alerting social media companies of voting-related misinformation — as censorship.

But some GOP-led state legislatures have nonetheless passed laws requiring cybersecurity assessments and improvements, pushing local election officials to work with CISA.

For example, a law passed in Texas in 2019 required counties to go through a mandatory election security assessment to be completed by the following year and required the Texas secretary of state to establish best practices “for identifying and reducing risk to the electronic use, storage, and transmission of election data and the security of election systems.”

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office relied on CISA and other election security experts for that task. It released its best practices guide in 2020, and since then, state and county officials have continued to use CISA’s security services and resources.

Trudy Hancock, the elections administrator in Brazos County, Texas, said CISA helped the county strengthen its election office security at no cost. Last year, an expert from the agency conducted an assessment and provided recommendations for improving physical security, giving Hancock confidence in her ability to protect voters.

Hancock said that small counties will suffer the most as a result of the cuts to CISA. “They can’t afford to have someone come out and do an assessment for them,” Hancock said. “If this goes away, they’ll have to pay for that, and the people they hire may not have the specialized knowledge needed for elections.”

Large counties say they will also feel the sting. Teneshia Hudspeth, who runs elections in Harris County — the state’s largest, and home to Houston — said the potential loss of free federal resources “would pose a significant concern for my office and others responsible for conducting elections.”

“While I understand that CISA is not the only agency that provides similar services, I believe they are the best at offering and disseminating the most accurate information in a unified manner throughout our nation,” she said.

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office declined to comment.

Officials in Wisconsin say they have similar concerns about diminishing CISA. In Milwaukee, CISA’s wide range of educational materials and training programs helped improve employee performance. The county also underwent a free physical security assessment, and benefited from the improved communication sharing that Hudspeth praised.

“CISA’s work has been crucial to safeguarding elections in Wisconsin and across the United States,” Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said in a statement. He said further cuts and reduction in support will “further undermine elections in our nation.”

For now, there is little clarity about how deep the cuts will go, forcing these officials to wait and see whether these programs will continue to be available in their current form.

“Neither CISA leadership nor leaders from other federal agencies have given Michigan any official information about what support will be provided in the future,” said Angela Benander, spokesperson for the Michigan Secretary of State’s office.

The Trump administration has yet to nominate a new CISA director, leaving the agency without permanent leadership. The deputy director position — which doesn’t require Senate confirmation — also remains vacant.

Jessica Huseman is Votebeat’s editorial director and is based in Dallas. Contact Jessica at jhuseman@votebeat.org.

Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Jen at jfifield@votebeat.org. Hayley Harding is a reporter for Votebeat based in Michigan. Contact Hayley at hharding@votebeat.org. Carter Walker is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with Spotlight PA. Contact Carter at cwalker@votebeat.org. Natalia Contreras is a reporter for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia at ncontreras@votebeat.org. Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Alexander at ashur@votebeat.org.

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