The Department of Homeland Security’s cyber chief, Chris Krebs, was fired by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Trump announced the dismissal in a tweet Tuesday night.
The dismissal of Krebs, director DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, follows the agency’s declaration that the general election was the most secure in U.S. history. The statement served as a rebuke to the president who continues to make unsubstantiated allegations of voting fraud while Trump’s legal team pursues multiple legal challenges in battleground states.
Krebs had been an outspoken defender of the nation’s election security apparatus in the months leading up to Election Day Krebs joined DHS in March 2017, first serving as a senior adviser on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection. He was tasked with safeguarding national cyber networks along in the face of increasing attempts by foreign adversaries to disrupt the government, which was made clear in 2016 when Russia sought to undermine the general election.
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