The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA) has positioned a number of members of its election safety workforce on administrative go away, the Division of Homeland Safety has confirmed to TechCrunch.
The Related Press, citing an individual acquainted with the scenario, reported on Tuesday that 17 CISA workers have been positioned on go away pending evaluate.
In an announcement to TechCrunch, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) confirmed that CISA workers engaged on overseas affect operations and disinformation had been positioned on administrative go away.
McLaughlin didn’t verify what number of workers had been positioned on go away however didn’t dispute the 17 determine reported by the Related Press.
“As Secretary Noem said throughout her affirmation listening to, CISA must refocus on its mission, and we’re beginning with election safety,” McLaughlin stated to TechCrunch. “The company is enterprise an analysis of the way it has executed its election safety mission with a selected deal with any work associated to mis-, dis-, and malformation.
“Whereas the company conducts the evaluation, personnel who labored on mis-, dis-, and malinformation, in addition to overseas affect operations and disinformation, have been positioned on administrative go away.”
The affected workers had labored with election officers to counter a variety of cybersecurity threats, together with ransomware and the bodily safety of election employees. In keeping with the Related Press, 10 of the staff had been regional safety election officers employed to bolster election safety forward of the 2024 election.
The reported transfer comes amid uncertainty about the way forward for CISA, which was fashioned in 2018 through the first Trump administration. President Trump has not but named a alternative for former CISA director Jen Easterly, who departed the company on January 20.
When reached for remark, CISA deferred to the DHS.
Up to date with remark from the Division of Homeland Safety.
