Investigate DHS Subversion of Election Security Agency

I am writing to urge you to initiate a comprehensive congressional investigation into the deeply troubling allegations regarding the Department of Homeland Security's politicization and systematic undermining of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The claims detailed in recent reporting are shocking and demand immediate legislative action. According to multiple sources, political appointees at DHS requested that CISA secretly acquire and hack a voting machine, with findings to be delivered directly to the White House. CISA career staff found this directive fundamentally incompatible with the agency's mission and feared they were being pressured to participate in political interference. This request represents a fundamental breach of the trust that must undergird our election security infrastructure. The broader pattern is equally alarming. Since 2025, the administration has laid off or pushed out over one thousand CISA employees, effectively reducing the agency by approximately one-third. The 2027 budget proposal calls for another seven hundred million dollars in cuts, threatening nine hundred additional layoffs. During the critical preparation period for the 2026 midterms, CISA abandoned its core election security work, leaving state election officials without federal guidance or assistance. Compounding this negligence, the Trump administration has declassified sensitive election security information that states and vendors had entrusted to CISA in confidence. This betrayal has shattered the cooperative relationship essential to protecting our elections. State election officials report they no longer trust the federal government enough to share critical security information with the agency. Furthermore, administration officials have engaged in reckless data handling practices, including uploading classified records to unsecured platforms and publishing sensitive passwords and security credentials on public repositories. These actions underscore a stunning disregard for the confidentiality and integrity of our election infrastructure. The American people deserve elections secured by a functioning, non-partisan CISA. Congress must investigate whether DHS appointees have improperly weaponized this agency for political purposes, compromised state election security through betrayal of confidentiality agreements, and violated the statutory mandate Congress provided when it established CISA as a standalone agency. This investigation cannot wait.