Kathy Boockvar recently spoke with ProPublica investigative reporter Jen Fifield for an in-depth look at the shifting landscape of American election security. As federal agencies undergo drastic cutbacks, Boockvar and other experts are warning of the erosion of the guardrails that successfully helped election officials protect the 2020-2024 elections.
The report,“Inside Trump’s Effort to ‘Take Over’ the Midterm Elections,” examines the systematic dismantling of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other federal units designed to counter cyber attacks and other forms of interference. Boockvar, who served as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State during the 2020 election cycle, provided critical insight into why these bipartisan institutions are essential.
A “Gaping Hole” in Security
The investigation highlights that since early 2025, the federal government has significantly reduced its role in election security, with more than 75 key personnel having been pushed out, fired, or reassigned, and critical services and resources eliminated or severely cut. These have included cyber and physical security assessments of local election offices, critical intelligence-sharing, and helping dispel false narratives, leaving local and state election officials struggling to fill the gaps.
“It took years of dedicated, bipartisan, cross-sector partnership to build the security infrastructure we’ve had, and dismantling CISA leaves a gaping hole,” Boockvar told ProPublica. “We are making the job of securing our democracy exponentially harder.”
Voices from the Front Lines
The story details a previously unreported 2020 meeting where Attorney General William Barr sought the guidance of CISA and FBI experts to understand whether the president’s allegations could possibly be true. Hearing the technical evidence from these key experts helped him understand the truth – and that informing the president would likely cost him his job. Today, many of the officials who “held the line” during that period have been replaced or sidelined.
Other national security experts weighed in on the dangers of abandoning federal coordination:
- Caitlin Durkovich, former NSC election security lead: “Nearly every program and capability to stop bad actors and support election administrators has been dismantled. Heading into the midterms, this leaves states and localities exposed, without the intelligence support or federal coordination they need to detect and respond to threats in real time.”
- Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA): “Our election system withstood [the] attacks following the 2020 election, but this will be an even tougher test, with more election deniers having access to federal power than ever before.”
Boockvar has previously written about the extensive consequences of these cutbacks and what actions we should take to help election officials fill the gaps and all of us rebuild trust. See Bridging Divides: Recultivating Election Security and Trust