No reason given despite securing the 2020 elections.
Media outlets have reported US President Donald Trump has fired one of the most senior cybersecurity officials in the U.S. government, Chris Krebs.
He served as the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) since its November 2018.
It’s unclear why President Trump fired him, except that Krebs recently insisted the November elections in the US were the most secure.
According to a joint statement released by CISA, when states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary.
This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors. There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.
Other security measures like pre-election testing, state certification of voting equipment, and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) certification of voting equipment help to build additional confidence in the voting systems used in 2020.
“While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too. When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections,” stated CISA.
This statement contradicted numerous claims by President Trump that the elections were unsecure and plagued by problems.
Before serving as CISA Director, Krebs was appointed in August 2017 as the Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection. In the absence of a permanent NPPD Under Secretary at the time, Krebs took on the role of serving as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for NPPD until he was subsequently nominated as the Under Secretary and confirmed by the Senate the following year.
He joined DHS in March 2017, first serving as Senior Counselor to the Secretary, where he advised DHS leadership on a range of cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and national resilience issues. Prior to coming to DHS, he was a member of Microsoft’s U.S. Government Affairs team as the Director for Cybersecurity Policy, where he led Microsoft’s U.S. policy work on cybersecurity and technology issues.
He has also worked in as an adviser to industry and federal, state, and local government customers on a range of cybersecurity and risk management issues. This was his second tour working at DHS, previously serving as the Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection and playing a formative role in a number of national and international risk management programs.
Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi confirmed in a statement the President fired Krebs.
“Director Krebs is a deeply respected cybersecurity expert who worked diligently to safeguard our elections, support state and local election officials and dispel dangerous misinformation,” she said. “Yet, instead of rewarding this patriotic service, the President has fired Director Krebs for speaking truth to power and rejecting Trump’s constant campaign of election falsehoods.
Pelosi stated, the President’s insistence on distracting and dividing the country by denying his defeat in the election undermines our democracy.
“As the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council Executive Committee and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council — composed of the top nonpartisan election security officials in the country — stated last week, ‘There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” she said.
