GoKawiilDHS Appointees Asked CISA to Covertly Hack a Voting Machine, Ex-Officials Say
According to two former administration officials, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked CISA to secretly acquire a voting machine, hack it and report findings to the White House without notifying the manufacturer. CISA staff pushed back, calling the request a departure from standard practice, and the plan was ultimately not carried out partly because staff capable of the task had been laid off under Elon Musk's DOGE initiative.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The request, if accurate, suggests an effort to use election security infrastructure for political purposes rather than its stated defensive mission, according to the former officials who spoke to ProPublica. One official speculated the findings could have been used to challenge election results selectively, though this motive is not confirmed by the administration. The episode also highlights how staffing cuts have affected CISA's capacity to carry out its core election-security work.
- DHS appointees reportedly sought a secret hack of a voting machine early in Trump's second term.
- CISA staff resisted, citing the unusual directive to withhold findings from the manufacturer.
- Staffing cuts tied to DOGE layoffs reportedly made the operation infeasible, and it was not carried out.
Source: politics.slashdot.org, 2026-10-19
Published there as: “Trump DHS Officials Asked CISA To Secretly Aquire and Hack a Voting Machine”
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