DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine
Career staff reportedly found the request alarming and contrary to agency practice.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine
Photograph: DiarioBitcoin (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security requested that CISA secretly acquire and hack a voting machine.
- The appointees wanted the findings delivered to the White House.
- CISA staff were instructed not to warn the manufacturer about any discovered flaws, a departure from standard procedure.
- Career staff reportedly found the proposal alarming and feared political interference, leading to the operation not proceeding.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 6 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 9 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
61/100
Hype
41/100
9 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 6 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Political appointees within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to secretly obtain and hack a voting machine. The findings from this operation were intended to be delivered to the White House. Staff at CISA were also instructed not to inform the machine's manufacturer about any vulnerabilities discovered, which was a deviation from the agency's usual practices.
Career staff at CISA reportedly found the request alarming and contrary to the agency's mission of protecting election systems. They feared the operation could lead to political interference. The operation did not proceed because CISA staff informed the appointees that it was not possible to carry out.
Disagreement on reasons for operation's failure
IBTimes UK reported that staff repeatedly told the appointees the operation was not possible, partly because specialists capable of executing the task had recently been dismissed due to cuts. Diario Bitcoin stated that workers explained to the political appointees that the operation was not viable for several reasons, including the recent dismissal of agents with the capacity to execute it by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
What the coverage left out
None of the left-rated or centre-rated reports mentioned the specific figure of $707 million in proposed budget cuts for CISA in 2027, which was reported by Diario Bitcoin. No right-rated outlet ran this story.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 19 Oct 2026, 19:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine
IBTimes UK — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- Left-rated reports focused on the request for CISA to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine, highlighting that political appointees at DHS made the request. Multiple reports noted that staff were told not to warn the manufacturer of any flaws found, a break from standard practice. The alarming nature of the proposal for career staff and fears of political interference were also emphasised. IBTimes UK quoted a former official saying, 'My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don't like.' These reports also mentioned that the operation did not happen because staff said it was not possible, with IBTimes UK adding that specialists capable of the task had been let go due to cuts. The context of staff and funding cuts at CISA was also a prominent theme, with IBTimes UK detailing a proposed budget cut of $700 million for Fiscal Year 2027 and a reduction of about a third in the workforce since Trump returned to office. Alternet's headline stated, 'Panic sparked as Trump admin orders cyber agents to hack voting machines,' and Raw Story's headline read, 'Officials fear cybersecurity agency meant to protect US elections compromised by Trump.'
Centre
1 rated outlet
- The centre-rated report from Political Wire led with the request made by Trump appointees for a voting machine to be hacked. It noted that the appointees wanted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to procure the machine, examine it, and report the findings back. The report also mentioned that staff were instructed not to warn the manufacturer of any flaws found, which was a departure from standard practice.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine?
- Of the 6 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 83% are rated left, 17% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 9. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 6 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine biased?
- DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine is one event reported by 9 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered DHS Appointees Asked CISA to Hack Voting Machine?
- 9 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What did political appointees at DHS ask CISA to do?
- Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked CISA to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine. They also wanted the findings delivered to the White House and for CISA staff not to warn the manufacturer about any flaws discovered.
- Why did the operation not happen?
- The operation did not proceed because CISA staff informed the political appointees that it was not possible to carry out. Some reports suggest this was partly due to the recent dismissal of specialists capable of performing such a task.
- How did CISA staff react to the request?
- Career staff at CISA reportedly found the proposal alarming and contrary to the agency's standard practices. They feared the operation could be used for political interference and was against the agency's mission.
Read it at the source
9 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- Officials fear cybersecurity agency meant to protect US elections compromised by Trump (opens Raw Story in a new tab)
- The Gutting of Election Security (opens Truthdig in a new tab)
Truthdig — is Truthdig biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Trump Officials Asked Election Security Agency to Secretly Obtain and Hack a Voting Machine, Report Finds (opens IBTimes UK in a new tab)
IBTimes UK — is IBTimes UK biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Panic sparked as Trump admin orders cyber agents to hack voting machines (opens Alternet in a new tab)
- This Cybersecurity Agency Is Supposed to Protect U.S. Elections. Officials Fear It’s Been Compromised by Trump. (opens ProPublica in a new tab)
ProPublica — is ProPublica biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
1Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
3- CISA, Under Pressure: the Request to Hack Into a Voting Machine that Alarmed Its Employees (opens DiarioBitcoin in a new tab)
DiarioBitcoin — is DiarioBitcoin biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Trump DHS Tried to Secretly Hack Voting Machine (opens The Daily in a new tab)
- Securing the Modern Mainframe - A CISO’s Guide to Preserving Availability, Integrity, and Trust | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #ransomware - National Cyber Security Consulting (opens National Cyber Security in a new tab)
National Cyber Security — is National Cyber Security biased? Our profile of this outlet
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