Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked the federal agency responsible for defending elections to secretly buy a voting machine and hack it, then hand the findings to the White House, ProPublica revealed.
The request was made a few months into Donald Trump's second term and directed at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, the body created to protect voting systems from attack. The appointees wanted it to procure the machine, examine it, and report back, according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request. Staff were also told not to warn the manufacturer of any flaws they found, a break from standard practice.
