<p>Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin plans to review the nation’s election security posture after the midterms and consider changes aimed at bolstering public confidence in voting systems.</p>
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<p>Mullin outlined the plans during an all-hands address at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s headquarters Tuesday, according to a CISA official with direct knowledge of the remarks. The official was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the speech.</p>
<p>The secretary told employees he intended to hold a “debrief” after the elections and weigh whether changes to systems were needed to improve trust in election outcomes among voters. He also said DHS was not seeking to “suppress” votes and said the department’s goal is ensuring ballots are secure and legally cast.</p>
<p>The scope of that review and the changes Mullin might pursue remain unclear. But his remarks come as the Trump administration has sought greater control over election procedures, including attempted<a href=“Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections – The White House”> restrictions on mail voting</a> that would require voters to appear on new Postal Service lists before their ballots could be transmitted. </p>
<p>More recently, the Justice Department<a href=“https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-justice-dept-asks-washington-state-not-count-ballots-possible-noncitizens-2026-10-27/”> </a>asked Washington state to <a href=“https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-justice-dept-asks-washington-state-not-count-ballots-possible-noncitizens-2026-10-27/”>withhold ballots</a> from hundreds of people flagged as alleged noncitizens, following a similar effort in California. Audits and studies have consistently found noncitizen voting <a href=“Noncitizen Voting is Vanishingly Rare | Brennan Center for Justice”>to be rare</a>.</p>
<p>Election cybersecurity work can include protecting voter registration records, keeping voter check-in systems available and preventing attacks that knock polling-place information or results websites offline. Disrupting those services can cause confusion and delays for voters, though they do not directly affect how people cast their ballots.</p>
<p>Foreign influence campaigns can separately seek to discourage participation or undermine confidence in the outcome by spreading false claims about candidates or amplifying divisive political issues online. Current and former officials<a href=“Officials see gaps in election communications as AI makes foreign influence easier - Nextgov/FCW”> previously told <em>Nextgov/FCW</em></a> that cuts to certain federal programs have weakened relationships used to identify and counter foreign influence campaigns, even as artificial intelligence makes deceptive messages easier to produce and spread.</p>
<p>Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn. — the top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence panels — <a href=“Russia targets Democrats and Ukraine supporters ahead of midterms, top intel lawmakers say - Nextgov/FCW”>said last week</a> that U.S. intelligence has described Russian disinformation and more targeted Chinese influence efforts. The lawmakers said they have seen <a href=“David DiMolfetta on X: "House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Himes: "We continue to see nothing to contradict the longstanding assessment by the IC that no adversary has attempted to interfere with the physical infrastructure or vote counting of our elections."" / X”>no indications</a> of a foreign operation to manipulate voting machinery or alter ballots.</p>
<p>Mullin’s address was <a href=“https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2026/10/mullin-cisa-election-security-debrief-01136983”>first reported</a> by Politico. His remarks come as CISA tries to boost election security support following staffing and program cuts that state officials say have disrupted their access to federal expertise.</p>
<p>The agency’s <a href=“CISA pledges election security support after cuts weakened ties with states - Nextgov/FCW”>September election plan</a> assigns its 10 regional directors an election adviser role and describes a free platform for sharing threat information among election officials, state intelligence hubs and federal partners. Mullin pledged at the time that the plan would be “implemented in full.”</p>
<p>Some state officials have warned that renewed assistance arrived too late for parts of their midterm preparations. One Arizona cybersecurity official <a href=“Renewed CISA support comes too late for midterm prep, some election officials say - Nextgov/FCW”>said last month</a> that their state had been without a CISA cybersecurity adviser since March 2025.</p>
<p>The debate over CISA’s election work stretches back to 2020, when the agency affirmed the security of that year’s election and rejected President Donald Trump’s false claims that it had been stolen. Trump and his allies have since accused CISA of enabling government censorship through its work to counter election-related disinformation. </p>
<p>Those grievances have helped shape much of the administration’s efforts to narrow the agency’s role during Trump’s second term. In the last year, officials have also undertaken acute efforts to <a href=“Gabbard’s expanded role in election security draws scrutiny - Nextgov/FCW”>scrutinize</a> the security of voting infrastructure.</p>
<p>Although voting machines and related systems contain known security vulnerabilities, officials and cybersecurity experts have found <a href=“Voting machine researchers say federal work abruptly ended after Trump ally pushed back on their findings - Nextgov/FCW”>no evidence</a> that these flaws have been widely exploited in a way that would alter election outcomes.</p>
Article Link: DHS secretary plans post-election security review - Nextgov/FCW