The Department of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security is freezing all election security activities and reviewing everything it has done to help state and local officials secure elections over the past eight years, Wired has learned. . The move represents the first major example of the country's cyber defense agency in response to President Donald Trump's election fraud and false claims of online censorship.
In a memo sent to all CISA employees on Friday and obtained by Wired, CISA's acting director Bridget Bean ordered a “review and evaluation” of any position in the agency related to election security. , said it was countering mistakes and transformation. Like all election security [mis-, dis-, and malinformation] The products, activities, services and programs implemented were implemented as the federal government designated the election system as a critical infrastructure in 2017.
“The CISA will suspend all election security activities until this review is completed,” added Bean. The agency is also cutting funding for these activities at the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Centre. This is a group funded by the Department of Homeland Security, which served as a coordinating body for the electoral community.
In her note, Bean said in February that the employee was “initially identified as being associated with election security activities and MDM programs,” as CISA was first reported by Politico. We confirmed that it was placed on the 7th management leave.
“We need to save the agency's election security efforts to ensure that CISA focuses solely on carrying out cyber and physical security missions,” she told employees of the memo.
Bean is temporarily leading the CISA, but she is officially the executive director of the agency and is his top career position. The first director of the CISA created the role of executive director to provide continuity during the political transition. Previously, Bean was Trump's appointee for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during his first term.
In justifying the CISA's internal review, which ends March 6, Bean pointed to Trump's January 20 executive order on “end of federal censorship.” Conservatives allege that the CISA censored the speech by coordinating with tech companies in 2020 in the final year of Trump's first term in office. The CISA has refused to implement censorship, and the U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed the lawsuit relating to government work. However, in the wake of the backlash, CISA has stopped most conversations with its technology platforms regarding online misinformation and disinformation.
CISA and DHS did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Since 2017, state and local election officials have relied on CISA expertise and resources, as well as partnerships with other agencies to improve physical and digital security. Through on-site consultations and online guidance, CISA will ensure election managers have a voting infrastructure for hackers, strengthen polling locations for active shooters, and create polling place backup plans to address voting shortages or power outages. I supported it.
Election supervisors have always struggled to overcome serious fundraising challenges, but in recent years their work has become even more stressful as intense voter scrutiny has been put into harassment and even death threats. Ta. Election officials on both parties have repeatedly praised CISA for non-political support in their work, saying agency recommendations and free security services are important in increasing their efforts.
