Spy Chief's Office Confirms Investigation into Puerto Rico Voting Systems
A team working under President Donald Trump's Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, conducted an investigation into Puerto Rico's voting machines last spring, according to Gabbard's office and three sources familiar with the previously unreported events. The probe, which occurred in May, involved the seizure of an unspecified number of voting machines and data copies from the U.S. territory for forensic analysis.
Conflicting Accounts on Investigation Focus
Sources told Reuters that the initial goal was to collaborate with the FBI to examine claims that Venezuela had hacked voting machines in Puerto Rico. However, the investigation did not yield any clear evidence of Venezuelan interference in the territory's elections. In contrast, Gabbard's office confirmed the investigation but denied any link to Venezuela, stating that the focus was solely on identifying vulnerabilities in the island's electronic voting systems.
A spokesperson for Gabbard's Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) described the taking of voting machines and data as "standard practice in forensics analysis." The office emphasized that ODNI discovered "extremely concerning cyber security and operational deployment practices that pose a significant risk to U.S. elections," noting similar voting infrastructure used elsewhere in the United States.
Security Gaps and Political Context
ODNI identified specific security gaps in Puerto Rico's voting machines, including their reliance on vulnerable cellular technology and software flaws that could allow hackers deep access to critical electoral systems. The Puerto Rico operation appears to be part of a broader effort by Trump administration officials to pursue unproven allegations of voting fraud, according to the sources. This preoccupation with voter fraud stems from Trump's 2020 reelection loss and has persisted since.
Gabbard's recent appearance at an FBI raid of an election facility in Fulton County, Georgia, underscores her direct involvement in election security matters. Last week's raid raised concerns among national security experts who fear that Gabbard and ODNI may have overstepped their authority by investigating sensitive domestic issues typically handled by law enforcement agencies.
Authority and Allegations Challenged
Gabbard's office asserted its authority to conduct the investigation, citing ODNI's statutory mandate to coordinate and analyze intelligence related to election security. "Given ODNI's broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security and our known work on understanding vulnerabilities to foreign and other malign interference, ODNI conducted an examination of electronic voting systems used in Puerto Rico's elections," the spokesperson stated.
Despite Gabbard's denials regarding Venezuela's role, the three sources challenged this narrative, revealing that the FBI team involved was probing the theory that Venezuela's government, under President Nicolas Maduro, had hacked U.S. voting systems. This allegation enjoys strong support among some Trump supporters but lacks publicly available evidence.
Operation Details and Broader Implications
The Puerto Rico operation involved coordination with the FBI field office in southern Florida and included U.S. national security officials, law enforcement agents, and government contractors. Gabbard's office noted that the United States Attorney in Puerto Rico, along with homeland security investigations agents and an FBI supervisory special agent, facilitated the voluntary turnover of electronic voting hardware and software for analysis.
Puerto Rico's elections have experienced irregularities, but no credible evidence has emerged to support allegations of foreign interference. Pablo Jose Hernandez Rivera, a Democrat elected in 2024 to represent Puerto Rico in the U.S. House of Representatives in a non-voting capacity, commented, "We have had widely reported problems in election administration. But they are all attributable to incompetence and corruption, not foreign interference."
Venezuela's government did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. The investigation highlights ongoing tensions between intelligence and law enforcement roles in domestic election security, amid persistent concerns about voting integrity and foreign threats.
