Overview
- In late July, multiple reports documented that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has removed or reassigned hundreds of staff who worked on election security and paused funding for the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
- State and local election officials say they no longer receive regular federal intelligence briefings or direct regional cybersecurity advisers that once helped detect and respond to foreign threats.
- Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has tied federal election help to state participation in the SAVE database, a system a judge recently found unlawful in its current form and that experts say has a high error rate.
- Election-security groups and cyber experts warn the federal pullback forces states to hire private vendors and networks to replace services they cannot replicate, raising the risk that local offices will be slower to spot nation-state attacks.
- The changes follow President Trump’s mid-July release of declassified intelligence about foreign data collection and come with a promised DHS election infrastructure plan due in roughly 30 days that officials say will outline what federal resources remain available.