- $10M annual funding terminated for election security programs
- CISA places election staff on leave amid internal review
- Experts warn of heightened foreign interference risks in 2024 elections
- State officials report loss of critical real-time threat sharing
The Trump administration has discontinued two major cybersecurity initiatives, including a program crucial for safeguarding state and local election infrastructure. Annual funding of $10 million was abruptly halted for the Center for Internet Security (CIS), which managed threat intelligence and incident response services through its Elections Infrastructure and Multi-State Information Sharing centers. This decision follows broader efforts to reduce federal oversight in election security, including the dissolution of an FBI foreign influence task force.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) officials confirmed the cuts as part of an ongoing review of election-related operations. Over a dozen staff members specializing in election security have been placed on administrative leave since the review began three weeks ago. The moves occur amid growing concerns about vulnerabilities in the 2024 electoral process, particularly following confirmation of Russian interference attempts in 2016 and 2020.
Industry analysts highlight three critical implications: First, the reduction of federal coordination creates patchwork defenses across states. Second, local governments now bear full responsibility for identifying sophisticated nation-state cyberattacks. Third, the lack of standardized threat intelligence sharing could delay responses to emerging election meddling campaigns. A recent case study from Maine illustrates the value of discontinued programs—state officials used CIS’s real-time alerts to block 12 attempted network intrusions during the 2020 election cycle.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, representing the National Association of Secretaries of State, emphasized that bipartisan election officials nationwide relied on CIS’s services. ‘The elimination of this program forces states to reinvent systems we’ve spent years developing,’ Simon stated. Despite CISA’s claim that cuts aim to ‘eliminate redundancies,’ cybersecurity firms report a 40% increase in election-related phishing attempts since the funding withdrawal was announced.
Legal experts from the Brennan Center for Justice argue these changes violate the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which mandates federal collaboration with local entities. Meanwhile, voting machine manufacturers—now excluded from CIS’s information-sharing network—warn that delayed vulnerability reports could leave equipment unpatched for critical periods. As state budgets tighten, only 18% of counties currently have funds allocated to replace discontinued federal cybersecurity services.