Ranking Members Morelle, Padilla Continue to Demand Answers on Critical Election Security Oversight
Lawmakers continue demanding answers on status of agency’s election security work after insufficient responses, blown deadlines to multiple letters regarding CISA firings and termination of election security efforts
WASHINGTON — Today, Representative Joe Morelle (NY-25), Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, and Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, reiterated their demands for a copy of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) review of its election security work, as well as a status report of their election-related work and personnel.
“Despite public claims that the agency continues to provide services to the election infrastructure community (including election officials and vendors) that are available to other critical infrastructure owners and operators, we have heard complaints that CISA staff may be afraid to work with state and local election officials and vendors for fear of retribution. If accurate, this is a very serious issue,” wrote the lawmakers.
The Ranking Members sent three previous letters to CISA leadership regarding CISA’s pause on all election security-focused activities, the termination of funding for the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), and the firings of CISA employees who previously worked on election security, including misinformation and disinformation issues.
“We remain seriously concerned with reports that CISA plans to cut some 1,300 staff—about half its full-time workforce—and another 40 percent of its contractors, and set a May 21, 2025 deadline for CISA employees to decide whether or not they would opt-in to a workforce transition program. Furthermore, it is our understanding that many employees have already begun the process of leaving CISA—or have already departed—and that restructuring may already be underway. The agency’s continued failure to provide any modicum of transparency to Congress and the public is unacceptable,” added the lawmakers.
Morelle and Padilla concluded their letter by reminding CISA’s leadership of their responsibility to the congressional committees of jurisdiction for federal elections. In addition to a copy of CISA’s review, Ranking Members Morelle and Padilla demand a substantive response to all oversight letters, and a briefing on the findings of CISA’s assessment no later than July 21, 2025.
Ranking Members Padilla and Morelle have strongly opposed efforts by the Trump Administration to undermine federal agencies’ election security work. In addition to their previous letters to CISA leadership, Padilla and Morelle expressed serious concerns about the dangerous implications for elections following President Trump’s executive order purporting to bring independent regulatory agencies under total control of the White House.
Full text of the letter is available here.
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