Overview
- Reporting says two former administration officials told ProPublica that political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked CISA to acquire and hack a voting machine and to withhold any discovered flaws from the manufacturer.
- The request was never carried out because CISA career staff repeatedly told appointees it was infeasible and resisted the order.
- Career staff cited recent workforce cuts driven by the Department of Government Efficiency initiative that removed more than 1,000 CISA employees and left the agency about one-third smaller.
- Democratic lawmakers have demanded investigations into CISA's capacity and use of election-security funds while the White House has defended the administration's record and DHS and CISA have not publicly corroborated the detailed allegations.
- The episode raises two linked risks: it conflicts with CISA's long-standing practice of disclosing vulnerabilities to vendors and it highlights reduced federal ability to provide hands-on help to state and local election officials ahead of key election deadlines.