DHS secretly ordered operatives to hack voting machine
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Political appointees at DHS asked CISA to secretly acquire a voting machine and test hacking it.
The request went unacted on, but it raises election-security questions before the midterms.
Background
CISA (the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) is a DHS component focused on cybersecurity, established in 2018 to support state authorities and safeguard election infrastructure. According to a ProPublica investigation by Andy Mannix and Doug Bock Clark, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked CISA to secretly acquire a voting machine, examine it and report findings through DHS political appointees to the White House during the early months of Trump's second term. The account comes from two former government officials who spoke anonymously to avoid retaliation, and ProPublica reported the request was ultimately not acted upon.
How it unfolded
- 2025Early in Trump's second term, DHS political appointees asked CISA to secretly acquire a voting machine, examine it and report findings through DHS appointees to the White House.
- Mar 25, 2025Trump signed an executive order claiming to direct federal agencies to change federal election rules and add barriers to voter registration.
- Oct 19, 2026ProPublica published the investigation by Andy Mannix and Doug Bock Clark on the request and the politicization of CISA.
- Oct 20, 2026Futurism, SSBCrack News, fish4news, UA.NEWS and the Campaign Legal Center published reports on the investigation.
- Nov 3, 2026Midterm elections were approaching, according to the reporting.
Who’s saying what
- Former official
- One former administration official said the machine could be kept "in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don't like" and that the request "goes against everything CISA represents."
- CISA staff
- Career staffers found the request shocking because CISA typically worked to thwart hackers, and the directive not to alert the voting machine company made them fear being asked to take part in political interference.
- Expert
- CISA cybersecurity and election consultant Ryan Macias said that during the run-up to the midterms between 2025 and September 2026, CISA experts "were nonexistent. Literally nonexistent."
- White House
- Responding to ProPublica, the White House said: "President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections."
- State officials
- Some state officials told ProPublica they fear what is left of the agency has been compromised by a conspiracy-obsessed presidential administration.
Still unverified
The account rests on two former government officials speaking anonymously to avoid retaliation; they did not identify which voting machine was to be obtained or establish that President Trump personally ordered the request.