The Department of Homeland Security is trying to quiet a brewing controversy over a failed polygraph test that was administered to the acting head of the nation’s top cybersecurity agency.
Politico reported Sunday on concerns that have reverberated through the organization since the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s deputy director, Madhu Gottumukkala, a Kristi Noem associate, failed the test in July.
The Trump administration and its allies in Congress have sought to undermine CISA, which Trump officially launched in his first term, ever since its first director refuted the president’s false election fraud claims after the 2020 election. Former Director Jen Easterly resigned in January, prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration, and Noem appointed Gottumukkala as deputy director (and thus acting director) in May, while Trump’s nominee for the role still hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate. Noem has taken steps to gut the agency and downplayed its role in protecting elections from mis- and disinformation.
The Politico report says at least six staffers at CISA have been targeted with investigations for insisting on the test because Gottumukkala sought to access highly sensitive materials at the agency:
The test was scheduled that month [July] to determine [Gottumukkala’s] eligibility to review one of the most sensitive intelligence programs shared with CISA by another spy agency, three current officials and one former official said. That material was designated as a controlled access program — meaning its circulation was supposed to be tightly restricted to those assigned as need-to-know — and the agency that furnished it to CISA further required that any need-to-know employees first pass what is known as a counter-intelligence polygraph, according to four current officials and one former official.
In its response to Politico, DHS didn’t deny that Gottumukkala had failed the polygraph test, but it characterized the test as “unsanctioned.” As Politico reported of a statement by DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin:
‘An unsanctioned polygraph test was coordinated by staff, misleading incoming CISA leadership,’ McLaughlin wrote. ‘The employees in question were placed on administrative leave, pending conclusion of an investigation. We expect and require the highest standards of performance from our employees and hold them directly accountable to uphold all policies and procedures. Gottumukkala has the complete and full support of the Secretary and is laser focused on returning the agency to its statutory mission.’ In explaining what constitutes an “unsanctioned” polygraph, McLaughlin arguably left more questions than answered them, saying, “random bureaucrats can’t just order a polygraph. Polygraph orders have to come from leadership who have the authority to order them.” As acting director, Gottumukkala is the top official currently at CISA, and there’s no indication from Politico’s reporting that the polygraph was administered against his will. Throughout the year, news outlets have reported on instances of Trump administration officials deploying polygraphs at the FBI, DHS, the Department of Defense and other agencies in an apparent effort to identify possible leaks and to gauge federal employees’ allegiance to Trump and his agenda. MS NOW reported earlier this year on such polygraph tests being administered at DHS. But this appears to be the first instance (that has reached the public, anyway) in which the dynamic has flipped: A top agency official failed a polygraph administered for legitimate security purposes at the instigation of agency employees. That the official happens to lead one of the nation’s most important bulwarks against foreign election interference — and that his superiors at DHS are investigating the employees who pushed for strict security protocols — doesn’t inspire much confidence.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
