{"id":2669056,"date":"2026-09-24T09:44:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T13:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignexclusive-trump-admin-releases-blueprint-to-protect-election-infrastructure-ahead-of-midterms\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T09:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T13:52:17","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignexclusive-trump-admin-releases-blueprint-to-protect-election-infrastructure-ahead-of-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignexclusive-trump-admin-releases-blueprint-to-protect-election-infrastructure-ahead-of-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Admin Releases Plan To Protect 2026 Election Infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignexclusive-trump-admin-releases-blueprint-to-protect-election-infrastructure-ahead-of-midterms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2669056&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Trump administration introduced a thorough 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan aimed at enhancing the security and integrity of U.S. elections during the upcoming midterms. Developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure security Agency (CISA) under the Department of Homeland Security, the plan outlines tools and services for election officials to defend against physical and cyber threats, including threats like hacking and bomb threats. It emphasizes practices such as using paper ballots for transparency and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fred-lucas-biden-doj-weaponized-for-2022-midterms\/\" title=\"Fred Lucas: Biden DOJ Weaponized for 2022 ...\">conducting post-election audits<\/a>.The plan also promotes no-cost resources like Risk &#038; Vulnerability Assessments and Vulnerability Scanning to identify and mitigate security risks, and highlights the role of regional election Security Advisors and fusion centers in sharing threat intelligence and coordinating responses. The initiative marks a shift for CISA, which has historically been associated with overseeing critical infrastructure and more recently faced scrutiny over its alleged involvement in domestic surveillance and social media censorship. the plan aims to safeguard election processes through collaboration, advanced cybersecurity measures, and ongoing threat intelligence, ensuring election integrity amid evolving threats.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Trump administration released a \u201ccomprehensive\u201d plan on Thursday that U.S. election officials can use to safeguard the integrity of the voting process during the upcoming midterms, The Federalist has learned. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cElection security is national security,\u201d Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. \u201cThis plan, which will be implemented in full, is crucial to the security, freeness, and fairness of choosing the leaders of our country. Making America safe again isn\u2019t just done at the border, in our streets, and on the coast \u2014 it\u2019s also done in protecting the integrity of American elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Obtained by The Federalist, the 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan includes numerous tools and services that election officials can use to protect election infrastructure from physical and cyber threats in the midterms. The extensive report was produced by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which falls under DHS.<\/p>\n<p>The 13-page document begins by providing a comprehensive overview of existing election infrastructure (voting and processing facilities, voting hardware, etc.) and the core technological components (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-says-he-supports-ending-filibuster-cites-abusive-use-by-democrats-during-trump-term\/\" title=\"Biden Says He Supports Ending Filibuster, Cites \u2018Abusive\u2019 Use By Democrats During Trump Term\">voter registration systems<\/a>, tabulation systems, etc.) that define a typical election process. It also includes an analysis of potential cyber and physical threats to this infrastructure that officials may encounter during the 2026 contest, such as attempted cyber hacks of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-smith-prosecutors-say-trumps-2020-claims-seek-to-manufacture-confusion\/\" title=\"Prosecutors claim Trump&#039;s 2020 claims aim to &#039;create confusion\">state voter registration databases<\/a> and bomb threats directed at election offices.<\/p>\n<p>The report provides guidance on how best to confront these prospective issues. For instance, to mitigate potential cyber vulnerabilities, the plan advises election officials to consider using paper ballots \u201cthat can be easily reviewed to ensure transparency, auditability, and resilience against software failures or manipulation,\u201d and to \u201c[c]onduct post-election manual audits of paper ballots to verify that voting systems function properly and to identify errors before certifying the final results.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>CISA\u2019s plan also lists numerous \u201cno-cost products and services\u201d that election officials may use to enhance the security of their state or locality\u2019s election infrastructure.   <\/p>\n<p>This includes Risk &#038; Vulnerability Assessments (RVAs) to \u201cmature critical infrastructure organizations.\u201d As described by the report, RVAs \u201cprovide a comprehensive evaluation of an entity\u2019s security posture, covering internal and external systems, authentication weaknesses, network architecture, and exploitable pathways,\u201d with each RVA producing \u201ca detailed, actionable report outlining risks and mitigation steps.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Another listed service is \u201cVulnerability Scanning,\u201d which \u201ccontinuously monitors internet-accessible network assets (public, static IPv4 addresses) for vulnerabilities and risky configurations.\u201d Participating election offices \u201creceive weekly reports detailing all findings, along with ad-hoc alerts for urgent issues such as unsafe services and known exploited vulnerabilities,\u201d according to the plan. <\/p>\n<p>The 2026 guidance furthermore provides election officials access to CISA\u2019s 10 regional directors, which serve as \u201cElection Security Advisors\u201d for their respective cadre of states across the country. These advisors \u201cplay a critical role in ensuring [state, local, tribal, and territorial] partners receive timely, expert support aligned with national cybersecurity risk-reduction priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The last major resource flagged in the 2026 plan is that of fusion centers, which CISA noted \u201cserve as a key channel for sharing threat intelligence and risk-assessment data, strengthening the security and resilience of election operations.\u201d The purported goal of these state-owned and operated centers is to \u201cintegrate\u201d election officials across all levels of government to \u201caddress both cyber and physical risks to election infrastructure\u201d as they appear, and to \u201cserve as a channel for threat reporting, analysis, and information sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn conclusion, the CISA 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan represents a comprehensive commitment to safeguarding the integrity of the United States electoral process,\u201d the report reads. \u201cBy leveraging collaborative partnerships, robust cyber defenses, and ongoing threat intelligence, the plan ensures that all stakeholders are prepared to address evolving risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration\u2019s election security plan is a notable pivot for <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/cisa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CISA<\/a>, which previously operated as the \u201cnerve center\u201d of the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/censorship-industrial-complex\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censorship-industrial complex<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>While created in 2018 to safeguard critical U.S. infrastructure and guard against cybersecurity threats, a 2023 House GOP <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/new-report-reveals-cisa-tried-cover-censorship-practices\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> found that CISA had \u201cmetastasized\u201d into a weapon used in the federal government\u2019s \u201cdomestic surveillance and censorship operations on social media.\u201d A separate House report released later that year showed that CISA <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/11\/07\/government-censorship-op-targeted-the-federalists-mollie-hemingway-sean-davis-during-2020-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">colluded<\/a> with Stanford University to pressure Big Tech companies into censoring prominent conservative voices leading up to the 2020 election \u2014 including The Federalist\u2019s Mollie Hemingway and Sean Davis. <\/p>\n<p><em>For more election news and updates, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump admin unveils election security plan for midterms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2669057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Voting.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[42974,39102,34382,86170,32640],"class_list":["post-2669056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-2026-elections","tag-election-protection","tag-election-security","tag-government-plan","tag-trump-administration"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Voting.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2669056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669065,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669056\/revisions\/2669065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2669057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2669056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2669056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2669056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}