A man leaves a polling room in a polling station in Lancaster, NH, on election day, November 5.
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The new Trump administration is evolving rapidly to reduce longtime work to counter foreign influence in the US elections, the work that started in the first term Trump after revelations on the extent and ambition of the efforts of the Russia to influence the 2016 elections.
Staff members working to counter the disinformation of errors and a foreign team as well as a team of 10 regional electoral security advisers at the Ministry of Internal Security Safety of cybersecurity and infrastructure The agency (CISA) was put on administrative leave, according to two sources which familiarize themselves directly with the question which spoke at NPR under cover of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
In addition to the disruption of the work of the CISA, the prosecutor General Pam Bondi Also ordered End of an FBI working group to combat the campaigns of foreign influence in American politics by Russia, China and other countries. Order Looking for “free resources to combat more urgent priorities and put an end to the risks of future armament and abuse of the discretion of prosecution, the working group on the influence of foreigners will be dissolved”. She also dismissed the Act on the Application by the Ministry of Justice of the Registration Act on foreign agents who was used to pursue Americans receiving secret funding from other countries.
Experts working on technology, human rights and digital governance at the American agency for international development can no longer do their job during a Trump administration effort to close the agency, leaving a vacuum For Russia and China to intervene, experts argued.
In his first mandate, President Trump frequently disseminated his frustrations concerning the allegations that Russia interfered on his behalf. US government representatives also described attempts at adversaries like Iran to harm Trump’s candidacy to his functions. Trump also said on several occasions that the 2020 American presidential election was “stolen” without any evidence, said that the CISA was directly countered at the time and led to the rejection of the agency’s head at the time.
The CISA and the DHS did not respond to requests for comments.
Electoral security experts with NPR were deeply concerned about TRUMP TRIMP TRIMP TRIMPS CHARGE COMMANDS, CONTROL THE ELECTIONS, from disinformation below regional security threats ranging from ransomware to voting technology problems. Although there are employees who still work on CISA electoral security problems, it is not clear if they will also be on administrative leave in the coming weeks, the two familiar sources with internal operations CISA indicated.
“Each cut made to our electoral security and foreign influence operations is like a gift on a silver set to our foreign opponents such as Russia, China and Iran,” said Kathy BOOCKVAR, president of the consulting firm Athena Strategies and former Secretary of State and former Secretary of State for Pennsylvania. “This directly strengthens their ability to invade our national security and interfere in our elections, leaving each American citizen more vulnerable.”
BOOCKVAR, which was co -chair of the election committee of the National Association of Secretaries of State in the 2020 elections, was particularly concerned about the loss of support for cybersecurity to the administrators of the regional elections. She said that CISA regional officers, alongside members of the FBI foreign influence on the FBI foreign influence, were “enormous support” for people who obtain national and local elections across the country, and that Their loss will be expensive and difficult.
Trump signed the bill that created Cisa in 2018
In remarks Trump did when the 2018 bill was signed which created CisaIt was necessary to “face the whole range of threats of nation states, cybercriminals and other malicious actors, of which there are many.”
Like several other government agencies responsible for national security and the defense of American critical infrastructure, Cisa has also taken an electoral security portfolio.
However, there was already bad blood between Trump and investigators who sought to illustrate the impacts of a general Russian disinformation in the 2016 American presidential election. The special lawyer of the Ministry of Justice, Robert Mueller, N ‘did not find any evidence to definitely prove that the Trump campaign was collected with Russian officials to influence the election result, but he found evidence of Russian interference to strengthen Trump’s campaign and denigrate the Hilary Democratic candidate Clinton.
Trump has long described the “hoax” Mueller’s investigation that should never have happened.
But during the 2020 American presidential election, Trump then spread and promoted more false stories, including the fraud of generalized voters, before President Joe Biden was finally won. CISA and others have demystified many of these complaints through a Web page called rumors control. These public contradictions led Trump, in part, To reject the director of the CISA at the time, Christopher Krebs.
Since then, the Republicans have attacked the CSA, arguing that the agency has exceeded its post description and has broken conservative freedom of expression, an allegation of management of the CISA has denied vehement.
In her confirmation hearing, the secretary of internal security, Kristi Noem, promised to reduce the CISA. She said that the agency went “far from the mission” and engaged Limit its role in the fight against false news online of adversaries such as Russia, China and Iran.
In the weeks following the inauguration of Trump for his second term, the experts hoped that there could be a window to preserve the functions and independence of the CISA. The Republicans attenuated attacks on the agency, especially after the CISA played a decisive role in revealing a Generalized Chinese espionage campaign Targeting American telecommunications that have had a direct impact on Trump and vice-president JD Vance. The CISA was initially excluded from a broader effort to reduce the federal government by the government team of President Trump called the Ministry of Government efficiency, or DOGE.
However, at the end of February 5, CISA eligible employees had the opportunity to take delayed resignation offers in exchange for eight months’ salary. We still do not know if these offers are legal or if they will be funded by Congress credits beyond March.
Do you have any information you want to share on current changes at CISA or through the federal government? Handle Jenna McLaughlinwhich is available via encrypted communications on signal at jennamclaughlin.54
