Lawmakers warn foreign adversaries, AI as growing threats to midterms
In a letter obtained exclusively by NPR, Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency head Nick Anderson, demanding the restoration of more than $39.6 million in funds earmarked for specific election security efforts in the fiscal year 2026 DHS appropriations bill that Congress passed in April.
Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Morelle, the ranking member on the Committee on House Administration, focused their concerns on the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which had been a free, voluntary resource for state, local, tribal, and territorial election office employees to receive the latest intelligence on how adversaries are targeting election infrastructure. After funding cuts in March 2025, the lawmakers wrote, the center was able to provide only limited services through a paid-membership model that “under-resourced communities” cannot afford. The letter also cites “the removal of hundreds of CISA personnel and attempts by the Trump administration to slash the agency’s budget” as a major concern with the midterms approaching.
The lawmakers framed the funding gap as urgent in light of what they described as growing threats from foreign adversaries and artificial intelligence. In their letter, Padilla and Morelle wrote that the situation is “particularly disturbing at a time when our nation is at war with the Republic of Iran, which has reportedly engaged in sophisticated cybersecurity attacks, including on water infrastructure in the United States and nuclear energy facilities in the United Kingdom.” They added that “Russia, China, and other foreign and non-state actors also have significant cyber and online election interference capabilities, which are likely increasing with advances in artificial intelligence.” The lawmakers also pointed to ongoing U.S. conflicts, the rapid increase in cyberattacks targeting American critical infrastructure, and the speed at which AI models are uncovering vulnerabilities in code as evidence that election security support should not be delayed.
NPR reported that President Trump has dedicated a significant portion of federal resources to cast doubt on the intelligence community’s 2016 assessments of Russian interference and to push claims of election fraud in 2020, claims that NPR has described as “false.” Most recently, NPR said, he offered no new evidence in a July primetime speech that the election won by President Joe Biden was somehow compromised. At the same time, NPR reported, the administration has cut federal funding for election security programs and eliminated federal jobs focused on the issue, including at CISA.
“With the midterm elections occurring in two months, we write with grave concern that time is running out … to assist state and local election officials in protecting our elections from cyber and mis-and disinformation threats,” the lawmakers wrote. They concluded that the Trump administration is unlikely to “repair trust with election officials” before the November elections but argued that federal officials still have an obligation to distribute the appropriated funds to the information sharing center and to support local election security advisory positions in regions across the country.
“The failure to restore this funding as directed by Congress is a disservice to the thousands of election jurisdictions across this country,” Padilla and Morelle wrote.
DHS and CISA did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.