President Donald Trump has ordered a federal investigation into former CISA Director Chris Krebs over alleged censorship. Krebs, who was fired in 2020, had publicly debunked claims of election fraud after the 2020 presidential election. Trump’s executive order revokes Krebs’ security clearance and extends to those associated with him, including employees of SentinelOne, a cybersecurity firm. The White House accuses Krebs and CISA of suppressing conservative viewpoints under the guise of fighting misinformation.
The Trump administration has long claimed widespread election fraud, despite no substantial evidence to support these claims.
Krebs was appointed to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) by Trump but was later dismissed for defending the integrity of the election process. CISA, under Krebs, had worked to combat disinformation about election integrity, a stance that Trump criticized. The executive order claims that Krebs violated the First Amendment by allegedly suppressing free speech while addressing false election claims.
Trump’s order also accuses Krebs of dismissing concerns about vulnerabilities in voting machines during the 2020 election. It cites Krebs’ rejection of claims regarding election malfeasance and fraud, which Trump and his supporters continue to assert. The memorandum further suggests that CISA’s efforts to regulate online misinformation influenced social media platforms and may have unfairly targeted conservative voices. Republican lawmakers have echoed these concerns, arguing that CISA was weaponized for political purposes during the 2020 election.
Krebs, a lifelong Republican and former Microsoft cybersecurity policy director, now works as the chief intelligence and public policy officer at SentinelOne.
The company, which recently partnered with CISA to bolster U.S. cybersecurity, has agreed to cooperate with any reviews of security clearances held by its employees. This action follows Trump’s broader efforts to strip security clearances from former officials critical of his administration.
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