Continued....
Porter: "It is no secret that China and Iran compromise election equipment for a variety of intelligence purposes"
But Porter told
Just the News those assurances did not reflect the government's assessment of just how vulnerable America's election infrastructure was. Iran and China did gain access eventually to voter registration data, but those breaches were suppressed until November 2021, when Iranian hackers were indicted, and March 2026 when
Just the News obtained the first declassified documents acknowledging Beijing's penetration of voter registration data.
"What is shocking is how uncontroversial some of these findings are to professionals—it is no secret that China and Iran compromise election equipment for a variety of intelligence purposes, nor was it controversial at the time that these systems had technical vulnerabilities," Porter told
Just the News. "Every agency concurred on these findings, but because it was seen as potentially aiding the President’s reelection campaign there was an active effort to damage him politically by refusing to share the declassified report with the public."
He continued, "It is important for people to recognize that this is not normal behavior by the Intelligence Community—most officers would never do something like this. In my over 20 years of public service, the politicized efforts by [the] CIA and others to conceal the truth about the threats to the 2020 US Presidential Election are unprecedented and even today shock me when I retrace everything that happened."
Porter said much of this information was ordered declassified by then-President Trump, but that CIA leaders refused to publicly release a report on the suspected Chinese threats to election infrastructure.
"The President of the United States personally ordered this information declassified and shared with the public because he thought election integrity was so important to our country. Despite this, CIA leaders at the time refused to release the declassified report," Porter told
Just the News.
Punished for demanding the CIA follow Presidential orders
"Years later, when he was reelected, CIA went so far as to claim that the report had never been declassified. Even the record of its declassification had been removed from the system," he said. "Following the President’s lawful orders is necessary for the proper functioning of our democracy—when I raised these concerns at the time, the CIA, ODNI, other agencies and even the Inspector General retaliated against me and removed my ability to communicate with Congress on election issues."
Porter added, "I am so thankful for DNI Gabbard getting the truth of these matters out which for years have been kept hidden from the public and even from President Trump."
Last week, the Intelligence Community's new inspector general, Christopher Fox, decided to
open a full investigation into whether Porter's concerns were internally squashed and whether he was mistreated as a whistleblower.
Well before the China and Iran hacks, the January 2020 NIC assessment warned clearly that voter registration databases—along with poll books that keep a list of authorized voters—were among the most vulnerable to hacking and manipulation by foreign powers. "We assess that centralized election-related data repositories, such as voter registration databases, pollbooks, and official election websites, are most vulnerable to exploitation, and adversaries could use access to these systems to disrupt election processes," it warned.
"States house their voter registration databases predominantly on Internet-connected systems that are designed for easy access because maintaining up-to-date voter registration records is a nearly continuous process. Adversaries could alter data to potentially prevent individual voters or groups of voters from voting, causing delays on election day or forcing voters to use provisional ballots," the officer wrote. "Adversaries could also use the registration data—which in some cases is also available publicly or for purchase—to tailor other interference or influence efforts."
Wouldn't affect election outcome, but harms public confidence in electoral system
Though the intelligence agencies concluded that vote tabulators or systems that displayed results were locally vulnerable, they ultimately assessed that it would be difficult for adversaries to “manipulate on a wide enough scale to alter the election outcome.” However, they warned that such intrusions could undermine public confidence in the election.
The January 2020 memo, which was recently declassified by Gabbard, shortly preceded intelligence reports that spring which
showed China successfully gained access to American voter registration data spanning several states,
Just the News previously reported.
The intelligence about Chinese intrusions eventually found its way into a few finished intelligence products, including at least one presidential daily brief, current and former U.S. officials
told Just the News last month. The January intelligence memo shows how the data gained by China from those reported hacks could be exploited. The agencies focused on the assessed vulnerabilities of voter databases, pollbooks, and local election websites to such foreign intrusions.
Machines that record or count votes, especially those with no paper backups, are "particularly vulnerable” to instructions, the agencies assessed in the memo. “Adversaries who obtained physical access to voting machines could alter how they function, manipulate the data in them, or install malware,” the memo warns, citing the results of both state and academic investigations into such vulnerabilities.
Ultimately, the Intelligence Community did not believe that successful intrusions into these systems would present a threat to certified election results, even if reporting of election results was disrupted. “Tabulated results are stored independently of copies displayed on results websites, although investigations of malicious activity could delay results and introduce public uncertainty about the validity of vote counts,” the council concluded.
Intelligence community had disdain for the “vulgarian” Trump
In January 2021, the Intelligence Community analytic ombudsman — tasked with ensuring objectivity in intelligence products — conducted a review of the spy community’s handling of Russian and Chinese meddling efforts during the 2020 election. He concluded that intelligence analysts
downplayed China’s actions because they had disdain for the “vulgarian” Trump and did not want to support the policies and priorities of the Trump administration toward China with which they “personally disagree,”
Just the News reported last month.
Other Chinese efforts to influence the 2020 election were buried by intelligence community leaders and Iranian efforts to meddle in that election were also downplayed,
Just the News previously reported.
A confidential human source told FBI counter-intelligence in the summer of 2020 that China’s communist government was seeking to meddle in the impending election to help then-candidate Joe Biden, according to a raw intelligence report distributed to federal agencies that was
reviewed and
made public by
Just the News last year. This report was soon recalled, with spy agencies
told to delete the information before they had a chance to properly investigate its claims.
But, China was not the only example. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a March 2021
assessment where agencies unanimously agreed Russia sought to hurt then-candidate Biden while Iran worked to harm then-President Trump in 2020 — but the agencies did not reach unanimity on China.
