CISA Budget Cuts Weaken US Election Security, Officials Warn

State and Local Election Offices Face Growing Cyber Threat Amid Federal Budget Cuts Chris Riotta (@chrisriotta) • March 27, 2025

President Donald Trump's sweeping budget cuts targeting key election security and cybersecurity teams have crippled public-private defenses and left state and local agencies vulnerable to escalating cyber threats against election infrastructure, state and former federal security officials warned Thursday.

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Since Trump took office, cuts to election security funding at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have led to the "effective demise" of its election information security and advisory council and other critical federal initiatives, according to Suzanne Spaulding, senior advisor for homeland security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Spaulding, who formerly led CISA's predecessor at the Department of Homeland Security, warned Thursday that "sadly the election security-related work at CISA seems to have stopped."

Spaulding told reporters in a virtual ...