MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Who is Christopher Krebs? Trump fires cybersecurity official for saying polls were 'most secure in US history'

The official managed the election's security effort to fight against foreign intervention and fraud that could have happened during the elections

In a series of Twitter rants, President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, November 18, that he has now fired a top US security official whose agency announced the presidential election was "the most secure in US history".

The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) official, Christopher Krebs, managed the election's security effort to fight against foreign intervention and fraud that could have happened during the elections. Krebs was also behind a "Rumor Control" website exposing election misinformation claims. After not accepting his defeats and making various claims on Twitter regarding the alleged "election fraud", Trump has now slammed Krebs for claiming the election was secure arguing "there were mass improprieties and fraud".

The recent statement by Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud - including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed..." Trump tweeted. "...votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency," he continued. Twitter flagged the tweets with a warning saying the claims about election fraud are disputed.

Wthin less than an hour after Trump's tweet, Krebs tweeted from his personal Twitter account: "Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow. #Protect2020." The announcement comes as no surprise as officials had expected destruction at the Pentagon following the election result. Krebs had told associates last week that he expected to be fired by the White House, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

In his Tuesday night rant, Trump said, "The only thing secure about our 2020 Election was that it was virtually impenetrable by foreign powers. On that, the Trump Administration takes great credit. Unfortunately, the Radical Left Democrats, Dominion, and others, were perhaps more successful!"

Kreb's agency had issued a statement on Thursday, November 12, declaring the presidential election was fair in a direct rebuke to Trump and his claims that the race was riddled with fraud. "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," the agency said, joined by a coalition of security groups. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors," the CISA statement read.

While Krebs was broadly acclaimed for handling elections, he drew the wrath of the Trump White House over a website run by CISA dubbed "Rumor Control" which debunks misinformation about the election. Krebs served as the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security, from November 2018 until Trump terminated his employment on November 17, 2020.