Trump Fires National Cyber Security Chief

President Donald Trump has  fired his Head of the Federal Agency who protected the 2020 US Election from cyber attacks because he said the US election was conducted without error. 

Trump continues to make allegations that the election was rigged and has refused to concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden. Christopher Krebs, a former Microsoft executive, was Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and ran the agency, from its creation in the wake of Russian interference with the 2016 election through the November election.

In recent days, Krebs has repeatedly pushed back against false claims that the election was tainted. Recently, he tweeted a report citing 59 election security experts saying there is no credible evidence of computer fraud in the 2020 election outcome. He won bipartisan praise as CISA coordinated federal state and local efforts to defend electoral systems from foreign or domestic interference.

Krebs' work in protecting the election from hackers and combating disinformation about the vote won praise from politicians of both parties as well as state and election officials around the country.He has received praise from Democrats and Republicans for his handling of the election, which generally ran smoothly despite persistent fears that foreign hackers might try to undermine the vote.

President Trump has repeated unsubstantiated claims about the vote and wrote: “Effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”

Krebs, from his personal Twitter account, responded: “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomorrow.” He closed with the phrase “Protect 2020,” which had been his agency’s slogan ahead of the election. The dismissal is part of the churn in the administration since the Republican president was defeated by Democratic President-elect Joe Biden in the November 3 election. Bryan Ware, Assistant Director for cyber security at CISA, handed in his resignation on November 12. Ware did not provide details, but a US official familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency the White House had asked for Ware’s resignation.

Krebs, earned praise from both Republican and Democratic state election officials, leaves CISA having served as its only director since it was established as part of the Department of Homeland Security two years ago. Trump, who has yet to concede the election, has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud and Twitter has now flagged a warning on the tweets in which the President announced Krebs’ firing as containing “disputed” claims about the election.

CISA - Chirs Krebs:       VOA News:      NZ Herald:     RTE:        Guardian:      Al Jazeera:

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