Officials Asked CISA To Hack Ballot Machines

A report says political appointees at DHS asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to secretly procure a voting machine, examine and exploit it, and hand findings to the White House without vendor notification. Career CISA staff were alarmed and refused to comply; the request was not executed but reveals an intent to weaponize cybersecurity capabilities for political ends. — If true, the request shows a novel and dangerous form of institutional politicization that could undermine election integrity, public trust in cybersecurity agencies, and norms against weaponizing technical capacity for partisan advantage.