A week before a potentially transformative election, a new report says that political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security requested the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine.
The report raised concerns among CISA staff about political interference, who feared they were being set up to declare voter fraud.
First of all, know that CISA is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security and it's tasked with being the "nation’s chief cyber defense agency and national coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience."
They're supposed to defend election integrity, but Salon and ProPublica reported a request from the Trump Administration was made for them to hack a voting machine, with no explanation as to why.
"The proposition was shocking to CISA’s career staffers, according to one of the former officials. CISA typically worked to thwart hackers. Moreover, the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to its standard practices. The request made the CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference."
This request, which went against CISA's mission to protect election integrity, was ultimately not acted upon, but it highlighted the administration's attempts to manipulate the agency while simultaneously reducing its resources. Over 1,000 CISA employees were laid off, and funding cuts further hampered the agency's ability to assist state election officials.
“My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don’t like,” one of the former officials said to Salon. “This goes against everything CISA represents.”
Former CISA employees told Salon they pushed back until the officials gave up, but they said it underscores how vulnerable Elon Musk's DOGE cuts left states and election officials.
And now former CISA officials are expressing fears about the administration's rhetoric on election security. Trump has floated the idea of letting the GOP 'oversee' elections across the country, and just last week posited the idea again that he could be given a third term in the presidency since he was 'cheated' out of the election he lost against Joe Biden.
Democratic lawmakers have called for an investigation into CISA’s ability to do its job.
A spokesperson for the White House declined an interview request from Salon but defended Trump’s handling of election security “President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections," the White House said in an email.
And then Monday afternoon, the president put out a statement on social media offering $1 million to anyone who could prove voter fraud.
"Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!" the president wrote. He did not explain if the funds would be taxpayer dollars or his own.
