Exclusive: Top official on U.S. election cybersecurity tells associates he expects to be fired

By Christopher Bing, Joseph Menn and Raphael Satter

 

U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs speaks to reporters at CISA’s Election Day Operation Center on Super Tuesday in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

 

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, who worked on protecting the election from hackers but drew the ire of the Trump White House over efforts to debunk disinformation, has told associates he expects to be fired, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

 

Krebs, who heads the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), did not return messages seeking comment. CISA and the White House declined comment.

 

Separately, Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, confirmed to Reuters that he had handed in his resignation on Thursday. Ware did not provide details, but a U.S. official familiar with his matter said the White House asked for Ware's resignation earlier this week.

 

The departure is part of the churn in the administration since Republican President Donald Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in last week's election, raising concerns about the transition to the president-elect who would take office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has yet to concede and has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper and has installed loyalists in top positions at the Pentagon.

 

Krebs has drawn praise from both Democrats and Republicans for his handling of the election, which generally ran smoothly despite persistent fears that foreign hackers might try to undermine the vote.

 

But he drew the ire of the Trump White House over a website run by CISA dubbed "Rumor Control" which debunks misinformation about the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.

 

Top U.S. cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, who worked on protecting the election from hackers but drew the ire of the Trump White House over efforts to debunk disinformation, has told associates he expects to be fired, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. This report produced by Chris Dignam.

 

White House officials have asked for content to be edited or removed which pushed back against numerous false claims about the election, including that Democrats are behind a mass election fraud scheme. CISA officials have chosen not to delete accurate information.

 

In particular, one person said, the White House was angry about a CISA post rejecting a conspiracy theory that falsely claims an intelligence agency supercomputer and program, purportedly named Hammer and Scorecard, could have flipped votes nationally. No such system exists, according to Krebs, election security experts and former U.S. officials.

 

On Twitter, U.S. Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, wrote: "Chris Krebs has done a great job protecting our elections. He is one of the few people in this Administration respected by everyone on both sides of the aisle. There is no possible justification to remove him from office. None."

 

Krebs has steadily shot down rumors of fraud in recent days, including retweeting leading election security expert Matt Blaze, who for years has warned of specific vulnerabilities in election gear, when the professor wrote that "no serious evidence has yet been found or presented that suggests that the 2020 election outcome in any state has been altered through technical exploitation."

 

Gregory Crabb, chief information security officer for the U.S. Postal Service, which was also under pressure over misinformation about mail-in ballots, said: "From my view on the election frontlines, Krebs was a great partner and deserves accolades for his work."

 

(Reporting by Christopher Bing; Additional reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-13

 

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Clearly the Trump administration wants to investigate the electoral fraud situation even if that means firing every expert they've got. They mean to get to the bottom of this by sinking as low as they can.

What a bloodbath. I hope that criminal investigations follow after Jan 20th. This is ridiculous.

The White House demanded the names of Pentagon officials that applauded the out going (sacked) head of policy.....unbelievable...........and people still support Trump and still support the Republicans....mental.

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

Separately, Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, confirmed to Reuters that he had handed in his resignation on Thursday. Ware did not provide details, but a U.S. official familiar with his matter said the White House asked for Ware's resignation earlier this week.

 

Should have refused and told them to fire him.

I'd fire him in a nano-second for going public about internal HR matters. 

25 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

The White House demanded the names of Pentagon officials that applauded the out going (sacked) head of policy.....unbelievable...........and people still support Trump and still support the Republicans....mental.

Yes. He is now in full dictator mode.

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

But he drew the ire of the Trump White House over a website run by CISA dubbed "Rumor Control" which debunks misinformation about the election, according to the three people familiar with the matter.

 

41 minutes ago, webfact said:

White House officials have asked for content to be edited or removed which pushed back against numerous false claims about the election, including that Democrats are behind a mass election fraud scheme. CISA officials have chosen not to delete accurate information.

 

This is just so asinine, but typical Trump.  This guy is just doing his job.  But because his "facts" contradict Trump's made-up lies, he may get fired.  Trump needs to be booted out of there ASAP.

1 minute ago, Berkshire said:

 

 

This is just so asinine, but typical Trump.  This guy is just doing his job.  But because his "facts" contradict Trump's made-up lies, he may get fired.  Trump needs to be booted out of there ASAP.

 

Be careful what you wish for. Biden will probably send USA to war again, the libs will screech about minority rights and attack the silent majority, and the debt will go up and up and the libs tears will go down and down. The pendulum will, inevitably, swing back one day. Biden is a much nicer man than Trump, undoubtedly, but he's going to be a figurehead as he fumbles his way through his 4 years (if he makes it to the end).

38 minutes ago, Somtamnication said:

What a bloodbath. I hope that criminal investigations follow after Jan 20th.

One of several. What I want to see is a thorough investigation into what kompromat putin has on trump, a treason trial and suitable punishment meted out.

3 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 

Be careful what you wish for. Biden will probably send USA to war again, the libs will screech about minority rights and attack the silent majority....

Majority? Do tell!

Q

19 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

I'd fire him in a nano-second for going public about internal HR matters. 

Except he didn't go public. But apart from that, spot on.

And of course it had nothing to do with him debunking fraud claims. Particularly the obviously factual rumor about a sinister supercomputer.

Edited November 13, 20205 yr by placeholder

14 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Yes. He is now in full dictator mode.

Stalin had spotters....he wanted the name of the first person to stop clapping after he made a speech.....

5 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 

Be careful what you wish for. Biden will probably send USA to war again, the libs will screech about minority rights and attack the silent majority, and the debt will go up and up and the libs tears will go down and down. The pendulum will, inevitably, swing back one day. Biden is a much nicer man than Trump, undoubtedly, but he's going to be a figurehead as he fumbles his way through his 4 years (if he makes it to the end).

Abd this has what to do with the firing of this person?

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

 

Except he didn't go public. But apart from that, spot on.

And of course it had nothing to do with him debunking fraud claims. Particularly the obviously factual rumor about a sinister supercomputer.

 

Ya he did... in a round-about way. 

Just now, placeholder said:

Abd this has what to do with the firing of this person?

 

Replying to :  "Trump needs to be booted out of there ASAP"

Just now, BobBKK said:

 

Ya he did... in a round-about way. 

Another mind-reader. 

That’s our Donald causing as much havoc as he can because he dident get his way,the mother of all temper tantrums how disgracefully pathetic 

1 minute ago, Tug said:

That’s our Donald causing as much havoc as he can because he dident get his way,the mother of all temper tantrums how disgracefully pathetic 

The only kid in kindergarten who didn't get a sweet.........and he still has access to the nuclear codes.

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Separately, Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, confirmed to Reuters that he had handed in his resignation

Wise to get out of the toxic dying cesspool of the Trump’s administration. Lots of jobs waiting for him in the private sector. 

12 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 

Be careful what you wish for. Biden will probably send USA to war again, the libs will screech about minority rights and attack the silent majority, and the debt will go up and up and the libs tears will go down and down. The pendulum will, inevitably, swing back one day. Biden is a much nicer man than Trump, undoubtedly, but he's going to be a figurehead as he fumbles his way through his 4 years (if he makes it to the end).

Naaaa TEAM Biden will have their hands full trying to fix the mess trump made but fortunately they are smart enough to listen to experts and follow the advice your donald did a good job running up the debt sooo nope not buying it

Letting his buddy Vlad and his minions into the system. 

I'm waiting to see how they deal with the security-risk ex-president, the flag-hugging patriot, revealing what he shouldn't, bargaining for favors.  Vlad has his <deleted> nailed good and proper, and he's such a bad negotiator, no telling what he'll give up.

Convicted for just one count of treason would be enough to keep his trap shut.

 

14 minutes ago, Tug said:

the mother of all temper tantrums

got yerself a little bit of a Freudian slip there!

"father" would have served just as well in his case.

 

 

46 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 

Be careful what you wish for. Biden will probably send USA to war again, the libs will screech about minority rights and attack the silent majority, and the debt will go up and up and the libs tears will go down and down. The pendulum will, inevitably, swing back one day. Biden is a much nicer man than Trump, undoubtedly, but he's going to be a figurehead as he fumbles his way through his 4 years (if he makes it to the end).

This isn't about what an individual wishes for. It is about the electorates votes that matter.

For better or for worse, the Democrat numbers are significantly higher than the Republican ones.

It is traditional under such circumstances to concede and allow the winner to have their crack at running the ship.

I do not dispute any persons right to use legal options to explore options.

Well over a week into this now though, and there have been no revelations of voter fraud, in remotely close to the levels that would be required to overturn the lead.

What the evidence coming forward has shown, is of courts throwing out very ill thought out and oft times laughable cases, yet none of the alleged fraud appearing. The latter in itself is truly remarkable, as if it had happened, you would expect something to have shown up by now.

I don't expect the losing side to be happy. Every four years there is such a situation, yet never before has it deteriorated to the extent we see today.

Every time a Trump accusation turns out to be incorrect or untrue, the more you have to question how any of the accusations from him, of which he has no evidence, should be worthy of consideration.

Firing people down the line in positions of trust because you don't like that they are standing by the truth and refusing to participate in false narrative is just nasty.

 

1 hour ago, Phoenix Rising said:

Majority? Do tell!

Can't tell cause I'm in a silent majority!

2 hours ago, Phoenix Rising said:

One of several. What I want to see is a thorough investigation into what kompromat putin has on trump, a treason trial and suitable punishment meted out.

Best to see what kompromat is held on republican congressmen as well.  Many seem to completely ignore previous personal positions to follow 45 no matter what.

3 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

What a bloodbath. I hope that criminal investigations follow after Jan 20th. This is ridiculous.

Reminds me of the Soviet purge before the Nazi invasion.

 

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

This isn't about what an individual wishes for. It is about the electorates votes that matter.

For better or for worse, the Democrat numbers are significantly higher than the Republican ones.

It is traditional under such circumstances to concede and allow the winner to have their crack at running the ship.

I do not dispute any persons right to use legal options to explore options.

Well over a week into this now though, and there have been no revelations of voter fraud, in remotely close to the levels that would be required to overturn the lead.

What the evidence coming forward has shown, is of courts throwing out very ill thought out and oft times laughable cases, yet none of the alleged fraud appearing. The latter in itself is truly remarkable, as if it had happened, you would expect something to have shown up by now.

I don't expect the losing side to be happy. Every four years there is such a situation, yet never before has it deteriorated to the extent we see today.

Every time a Trump accusation turns out to be incorrect or untrue, the more you have to question how any of the accusations from him, of which he has no evidence, should be worthy of consideration.

Firing people down the line in positions of trust because you don't like that they are standing by the truth and refusing to participate in false narrative is just nasty.

 

 

Gore vs Bush - 4 weeks. None of my posts have denied Biden's win and with the huge establishment behind him it was no surprise. I don't like the concept of continuing voting after Election Day but that's the way it is at the moment. If it was simple popular vote all this would be avoided and president Gore would have won (as would Biden).

 " since Republican President Donald Trump was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in last week's election"  .......  more FAKE  news   ..... until all legal challenges and the constitutional process is followed DJ Trump is the President, and will remain so until midnight of January  19th 2021, unless he concedes.

16 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

 

Gore vs Bush - 4 weeks. None of my posts have denied Biden's win and with the huge establishment behind him it was no surprise. I don't like the concept of continuing voting after Election Day but that's the way it is at the moment. If it was simple popular vote all this would be avoided and president Gore would have won (as would Biden).

There is no voting after election day.