Warner Warns of CISA Election Security Cuts Ahead of Midterms

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a top Democrat on a Senate intelligence panel, is sounding the alarm that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is no longer providing the same election security support to state and local governments ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. 

Warner, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in a May 6 letter that he has received reports from state and local election officials that CISA is not providing the election security training, resources, and information it has offered since the agency was created in 2018.  

The 2026 midterm elections will determine control of the 120th Congress beginning next January, with all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats on the ballot in November.  

Without CISA’s support, Warner said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is putting U.S. election systems at greater risk from vulnerabilities and foreign interference or influence.  

“While the states are taking valiant and expensive measures to protect their elections, it is impossible for states to independently obtain intelligence, subject-matter expertise, and real-time incident reporting, and information at the scale and speed required to protect state elections from physical and cyber threats,” Warner wrote.  

CISA has undergone significant changes in the past year. Following reduction in force orders and the longest partial government shutdown in history, Acting Director Nick Andersen recently told Congress that the agency lost some of its specialized personnel. The most recent headcount from earlier this year placed the agency at 2,389 employees, down from 3,300 in January 2025.  

The agency also shuttered its small office dedicated to election security and integrity. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers last year that CISA closed the office to get “back on mission.”  

The move followed allegations from President Donald Trump and his administration that CISA’s election-related work targeted Trump and his supporters by infringing on their First Amendment rights.  

In his letter to Mullin, Warner said the White House’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal for CISA would eliminate any remaining election security personnel, state support programs, and advisor roles, despite warnings about foreign threats to U.S. elections. 

“CISA’s work must never be used as fodder to limit states’ constitutional authority to administer elections. CISA, and DHS broadly, must refrain from participating in or supporting unconstitutional, unilateral efforts to ‘nationalize’ or ‘take over’ elections,” Warner wrote.  

He added that, “There is precious little time for CISA to prioritize its election security work and get states and localities the support they need. State and local election officials – and the American public – deserve to know whether CISA can and will protect and support the security of the midterm elections.” 

Warner asked Mullin to respond by May 15 with details on how DHS and CISA plan to support U.S. elections after staffing cuts and the proposed elimination of CISA’s election security budget. He also requested information on personnel losses, state support activities, foreign interference safeguards, and an unreleased internal election security review.  

During a media briefing with reporters earlier this week on CISA’s new CI Fortify initiative, Andersen told reporters that CISA is still making election support “available on a voluntary basis to state and local election officials to provide both additional information sharing, threat intelligence, [and] to provide services again at the request of the state and local election officials.”