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SentinelOne recently augmented their earlier announcement with excerpts from emails exchanged between Chris Krebs and agency officials. In an email, Weingarten commended Krebs’ contributions, highlighting his dedication to democratic values and the safeguarding of critical infrastructure.
Weingarten expressed confidence in Krebs’ future endeavors, stating, “I know he’ll take on this next chapter with the same clarity, conviction, and humility that defined his time here, and he carries our full respect with him as his journey continues.”
Krebs and CISA Counter Election Fraud Allegations
Following Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Krebs and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) found themselves at the center of controversy. They faced backlash for actively dispelling various claims of election fraud propagated by Trump and his supporters. On November 17, 2020, Trump criticized Krebs, labeling his assertions as misleading and repeatedly insisting that significant fraud transpired, including allegations of deceased individuals voting and accusations against voting machines.
In response to these events, Trump announced Krebs’ termination from his role as CISA Director via a tweet, stating, “Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”
In a recent presidential memorandum, Trump mandated that the government undertake a thorough review of Krebs’ activities as a government employee, particularly scrutinizing his leadership at CISA. This review also instructed a comprehensive assessment of CISA’s functions over the last six years, with a special emphasis on examining any actions that appeared to contradict the objectives outlined in Executive Order 14149.
This executive order, issued in January 2025, asserted that the Biden administration had infringed upon Americans’ free speech rights by allegedly pressuring social media platforms to censor content. The order directed the government to “identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.”
Krebs joined the Department of Homeland Security in 2017 and became CISA’s inaugural director in November 2018. The memorandum from Trump cited that during Krebs’ tenure, CISA “suppressed conservative viewpoints under the guise of combatting supposed disinformation” and allegedly “covertly worked to blind the American public to the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop.” The memo hinted at upcoming investigations into Krebs and CISA, with the results expected to culminate in “recommendations for appropriate remedial or preventative actions to fulfill the purposes and policies of Executive Order 14149.”
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arstechnica.com