Trump officials asked CISA to covertly acquire and hack a voting machine

In the first months of Donald Trump's second presidency, DHS political appointees proposed that CISA secretly acquire a voting machine, analyze its flaws and pass the results to the White House, according to two former insiders. Career staff found the request shocking and warned it conflicted with CISA’s mission to protect elections, especially after a recent layoff wave by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency removed the agents capable of such work.

The agency has lost more than 1,000 employees, shrinking by roughly one-third, and the president’s 2027 budget seeks to cut another $700 million, potentially forcing 900 additional layoffs. State election officials report that CISA has been largely absent from critical midterm preparations, forcing them to rely on their own resources. Recent declassification of sensitive state-provided data and other questionable actions have further eroded trust between the agency and the states it was created to assist.