Trump administration halts funding for two cybersecurity efforts,
including one for elections
[March 11, 2025]
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY
ATLANTA (AP) — The Trump administration has cut millions of dollars in
federal funding from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one
dedicated to helping state and local election officials.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA,
has ended about $10 million in annual funding to the nonprofit Center
for Internet Security, a CISA spokesperson said in an email Monday.
It’s the latest move by Trump administration officials to rein in the
federal government’s role in election security, which has prompted
concerns about an erosion of guardrails to prevent foreign meddling in
U.S. elections.
CISA announced a few weeks ago that it was conducting a review of its
election-related work, and more than a dozen staffers who have worked on
elections were placed on administrative leave. That followed an
administration move to disband an FBI task force focused on
investigating foreign influence operations, including those that target
U.S. elections.
“I have grave concern for state and local election officials and for the
security of our elections going forward,” said Larry Norden, an election
security expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU’s School of
Law.
In recent years, CISA has faced sustained criticism from Republicans
over past efforts to counter misinformation about the 2020 presidential
election and the coronavirus pandemic. Previous CISA leadership had said
the agency never engaged in censorship and only worked with states to
help them notify social media companies about misinformation spreading
on their platforms.
When asked Monday if the review of CISA’s election work was complete and
if the agency could share a copy of the report, an agency spokesperson
said it was an internal review to “help inform how the agency moves
forward to best support critical infrastructure” and was not planned for
public release.
The two cybersecurity initiatives facing cuts are the Elections
Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which included
state and local election officials along with representatives of voting
system manufacturers, and the Multi-State Information Sharing and
Analysis Center, which has benefited state, local and tribal government
offices.
Both have been organized within a nonprofit, the Center for Internet
Security.
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The activities no longer being funded include cyber threat
intelligence, cyber incident response and engaging with state and
local government officials. In a statement, the agency said ending
the funding will help "focus CISA’s work on mission critical areas,
and eliminate redundancies.”
Following CISA’s decision, the Center for Internet Security posted a
notice online that it was no longer supporting the election-specific
initiative. A spokesperson for the Center for Internet Security did
not respond to questions sent by email about the effects of the
cuts.
The National Association of Secretaries of State, comprised of top
state election officials from across the country, was seeking
information from CISA about the move and its recent
election-specific review, said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve
Simon, a Democrat who is president of the bipartisan group.
Simon said he was waiting for more information before drawing
conclusions. He said the group’s executive board recently sent a
letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging CISA to
continue services to state and local election officials, including
support for the election information sharing center.
“We got a lot out of it,” Simon said Monday.
CISA falls under the Department of Homeland Security, although it
has its own Senate-confirmed director. President Donald Trump has
yet to nominate someone as CISA director. The agency was formed in
2018 during the first Trump administration and is charged with
protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, from dams and
nuclear power plants to banks and voting systems.
A spokesperson for the National Association of State Election
Directors said the group was hoping to learn more from the Center
for Internet Security about the effect of the federal cuts on its
operations.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who served as chair of the
executive committee for the election information sharing initiative,
said it provided crucial support during last year's presidential
election. Election officials were reporting malicious cyberattacks
and sharing important details in real time, which she said allowed
Maine to preemptively block those attempting to target her state's
networks.
“We will find a way to protect our elections," said Bellows, a
Democrat. "But given the sophistication of these threats, the
elimination of the (information sharing initiative) is both
inefficient and extremely dangerous.”
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