Warner, Padilla Demand Urgent Briefing on Foreign Election Threats From Gabbard After Intelligence Rollback

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, wrote Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard regarding concerns that she may have directed the Intelligence Community (IC) to cease disclosing attempted foreign interference in U.S. elections and requested she provide an urgent briefing on foreign election threats. The Senators also demanded Gabbard clarify her comments made about alleged "evidence" of vulnerabilities to electronic voting systems and manipulation of election results, which has not been substantiated.

As the country approaches the 2026 federal midterm elections, the Senators highlighted the importance of protecting the United States from foreign influence, including cyber threats. Warner and Padilla pushed Gabbard and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to coordinate an IC briefing on these threats by October 10th, and requested a plan for defensive cybersecurity measures ahead of the 2025 and 2026 election cycles.

This year, Gabbard has made harmful and unsubstantiated statements about voting system vulnerabilities as the Trump Administration has dismantled election security efforts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and curtailed the Congressionally authorized Foreign Malign Influence Center at ODNI. At a cabinet meeting in April, Gabbard claimed that she has "evidence" about voting manipulation in electronic voting machines, and on a right-wing podcast in July, she said that her office has evidence of voting machine vulnerabilities that it had not disclosed to the American public or Congress.

"As your testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in March made clear, foreign adversaries continue to conduct influence activities to undermine public confidence in our election system and potentially even shape election outcomes," wrote the senators. "While you have chosen not to release a declassified version of the Intelligence Community Assessment for the 2024 U.S. Elections, the final Election Security Update ahead of Election Day noted that 'Foreign actors - particularly Russia, Iran, and China - remain intent on' pursuing efforts to undermine public confidence in our democratic system, including inciting violence among Americans. We are concerned that you may have directed the Intelligence Community (IC) to cease its intelligence reporting on this vital topic."

"Given sustained efforts by the current Administration to dismantle CISA's election security mission, including discontinuing funding to the critically important Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, over the bipartisan objections of Secretaries of State, your cyber vulnerability claims are puzzling and elicit justified skepticism, as well as concerns of politicization," continued the senators. "Since taking office, the Administration paused CISA's election security work, fired election security staff, and staff are reportedly afraid to work with state and local election officials and vendors for fear of retribution."

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Director Gabbard:

For the better part of the last decade, the Senate Rules Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence have led efforts to educate the United States Senate, and the American public, about foreign threats to our elections. As your testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in March made clear, foreign adversaries continue to conduct influence activities to undermine public confidence in our election system and potentially even shape election outcomes. While you have chosen not to release a declassified version of the Intelligence Community Assessment for the 2024 U.S. Elections, the final Election Security Update ahead of Election Day noted that "Foreign actors - particularly Russia, Iran, and China - remain intent on" pursuing efforts to undermine public confidence in our democratic system, including inciting violence among Americans. We are concerned that you may have directed the Intelligence Community (IC) to cease its intelligence reporting on this vital topic.

As the election cycle for the 2026 federal mid-term elections gets underway, and multiple state contests have already begun, we write to request that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) coordinate an IC briefing for Senators on foreign election threats, including efforts to influence election outcomes through influence or cyber-enabled means. As part of that briefing, ODNI and the IC should also update the Senate on the status of planned defensive steps to ensure the cybersecurity of several state-wide elections in November 2025 and the mid-term elections in 2026.

In addition to an intelligence briefing on these threats, we invite you to clarify public statements that you have made about voting system security, which have generated significant confusion against the backdrop of efforts to dismantle key election security initiatives and programs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and at the Foreign Malign Influence Center at ODNI. Specifically, at a cabinet meeting with the President on April 10, 2025, you stated that ODNI was "investigating" the issue of "election integrity":

"We have evidence of how these electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time and vulnerable to exploitation to manipulate the results of the votes being cast […]."

On July 31, 2025, you appeared on a partisan political podcast and repeated these claims, citing alleged information from CISA:

"[A] whistleblower who came forward who was working under CISA at that time which is responsible for critical infrastructure and trying to protect against cyber vulnerability and critical infrastructure, including of course the integrity of our elections. And what was interesting was seeing how this whistleblower brought forward information that CISA at the time - the federal government - was aware of vulnerabilities in our election machines but they chose not to disclose that information to the American people or administration at that time. […] We're continuing to investigate this […]."

Given sustained efforts by the current Administration to dismantle CISA's election security mission, including discontinuing funding to the critically important Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, over the bipartisan objections of Secretaries of State, your cyber vulnerability claims are puzzling and elicit justified skepticism, as well as concerns of politicization. Since taking office, the Administration paused CISA's election security work, fired election security staff, and staff are reportedly afraid to work with state and local election officials and vendors for fear of retribution. In June, the Administration proposed to cut CISA's Fiscal Year 2026 budget by $495 million and reduce its workforce by 30%. To date, CISA has failed to disclose its assessment of its election security work or its plans to secure future elections to Congress or the American people. According to public reports, you have also initiated a review of work of the Congressionally-authorized Foreign Malign Influence Center.

With significant elections occurring less than 60 days away, we ask that ODNI coordinate an IC briefing before October 10.

Sincerely,