US cybersecurity agency releases election infrastructure plan 40 days before midterms

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NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s cybersecurity agency on Thursday released an election infrastructure security plan 40 days before November’s midterms, laying out potential threats to election systems and listing services it would offer to election officials to protect the vote.

The plan, which Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had originally promised to release by mid-August, comes after the Trump administration has been trying to kickstart efforts to help states protect voting systems. Election officials have argued that such efforts are too little, too late after the Trump administration gutted the agency’s election security work last year, forcing the officials to pay for private services to ensure they were prepared for the upcoming elections.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, has since its founding in 2018 helped warn state and local election officials about potential threats from foreign governments.

But CISA, as it’s known, was largely absent from that role in last year’s elections after the Trump administration dismantled much of its role on election security. The administration cut some 1,000 employees from CISA and slashed $10 million from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials.

CISA has also gone the entirety of Trump’s second term without a Senate-confirmed director, instead cycling through a series of acting leaders.

The 13-page document released Thursday says DHS has “consistently supported CISA’s delivery of cybersecurity and physical security services to election officials,” and that such services are provided at no cost to state and local election officials at their request.

Numerous state and local election officials around the country have told The Associated Press otherwise, noting that services previously provided by CISA, like tabletop exercises and penetration tests to evaluate security of their systems, were not available in the lead-up to this year's midterm elections.