Public Trust Tracker

ELX-008 · Elections · Election security

Cuts to federal election-security and foreign-influence work

Stage 2 of 5: Inquiry · Letters and records requests · Last development 24 Sep 2026

In February 2025 CISA put its election security advisers on leave and Attorney General Bondi disbanded the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force. CISA later closed its election security office, and its staff fell from about 3,300 in January 2025 to 2,389. The fiscal 2027 budget proposal would remove CISA's remaining election security staff and programs. In May 2026 Senator Mark Warner asked DHS how it would support the midterms. In September CISA published a 2026 election security plan that names its regional directors as election advisers.

Budget cuts need approval from Congress. The plan does not say how many staff or how much funding will support it.

People
CISA, Markwayne Mullin, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi
Reviewed by
Senate Intelligence Committee (minority)

Timeline

  1. CISA releases its 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan. [3]

  2. Senator Warner writes to DHS Secretary Mullin asking how CISA will support the midterms. [2]

  3. CISA election security advisers are placed on leave; Bondi orders the Foreign Influence Task Force disbanded. [1]

Responses

  • Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem: Said CISA closed the election office to get "back on mission". [2]
  • DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin: "Election security is national security"; the plan "will be implemented in full". [3]
  • Attorney General Pam Bondi (order): The task force was disbanded to "free resources" and "end risks of further weaponization". [1]

Sources

  1. NPR, 11 Feb 2025
  2. MeriTalk, 7 May 2026
  3. Nextgov/FCW, 24 Sep 2026

Cite this case

Public Trust Tracker. "Cuts to federal election-security and foreign-influence work" (ELX-008). Last updated 24 Sep 2026. https://publictrusttracker.org/case/elx-008-cuts-to-federal-election-security-and-foreign-influence-work/

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