Senator warns CISA election security pullback could leave midterms vulnerable
Senator warns CISA election security pullback could leave midterms vulnerable
Publish Date: 2026-05-06 17:34:00
Source Domain: www.nextgov.com
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., is demanding answers from the Department of Homeland Security over what he says is a sharp decline in federal election security support ahead of the 2026 midterms, warning that cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could leave states more exposed to cyber threats and foreign interference.
In a letter sent Wednesday to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Warner said state and local officials have reported that CISA is no longer providing the same level of election security training, intelligence sharing and cybersecurity assistance it offered in prior election cycles.
The letter adds to growing criticism over the Trump administration’s handling of CISA and its election security mission, which has faced deep staffing reductions enacted over the last year.
“While the states are taking valiant and expensive measures to protect their elections, it is impossible for states to independently obtain intelligence, subject-matter expertise, and real-time incident reporting, and information at the scale and speed required to protect state elections from physical and cyber threats,” Warner wrote.
After this story was published, a DHS spokesperson said that, under President Joe Biden, CISA “was focused on censorship, branding, and electioneering instead of defending America’s critical infrastructure.”
Under President Donald Trump, the spokesperson said the agency is “committed to delivering timely, actionable cyber threat intelligence, supporting federal, state, and local partners, and defending against both nation-state and criminal cyber threats.”
“CISA’s mission is ensuring state and local election officials are cognizant of and utilize the most capable and timely threat intelligence, expertise, resources they need to defend against risks, and identify critical infrastructure security needs to maintain electoral functions,” the spokesperson added.
Efforts under the Trump…
