Panic sparked as Trump admin orders cyber agents to hack voting machines

Systemic Error Podcast · Oct 20, 2026 · 6m

What happened

AlterNet reports that, early in President Donald Trump’s second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security directed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to secretly obtain and hack a voting machine, then send its findings to the White House. CISA staff were also reportedly told not to notify the manufacturer about discovered vulnerabilities. Career employees resisted, fearing the work could be used to challenge election results.

The operation was never carried out. According to former officials, CISA no longer had the necessary personnel…