Trump signs order targeting former CISA head Chris Krebs

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday night directing the Justice Department to investigate former top cybersecurity official Chris Krebs and mandating the head of every relevant federal agency revoke his security clearance.

Krebs, who served as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s director in Trump’s first term, made headlines at the end of his tenure for contradicting baseless claims from the president that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Krebs said the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history” and that there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” Trump later called that statement from Krebs “highly inaccurate” without providing evidence, and fired him in a tweet.

Krebs is currently the chief intelligence and public policy officer at SentinelOne, a cybersecurity firm. The Wednesday order also “suspends any active security clearance held by individuals at entities associated with Krebs, including SentinelOne, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest.” 

"In regard to the Executive Order dated April 9, 2025 focused on Chris Krebs in his prior role as a government employee, we will actively cooperate in any review of security clearances held by any of our personnel – currently less than 10 employees overall and only where required by existing government processes and procedures to secure government systems. Accordingly, we do not expect this to materially impact our business in any way," SentinelOne said in a statement.

The order expands to “all of CISA’s activities over the last [six] years and will identify any instances where Krebs’ or CISA’s conduct appears to be contrary to the administration’s commitment to free speech and ending federal censorship, including whether Krebs’ conduct was contrary to suitability standards for federal employees or involved the unauthorized dissemination of classified information.”

A representative for Krebs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nextgov/FCW has reached out to a spokesperson for Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who leads the House Homeland Security Committee, for comment.

“The EO served no purpose other than to settle old political scores and distract the public from his assault on the economy, which has been an unmitigated disaster,” said Rep. Bennie Thomson, D-Miss., the top Democrat on the committee. “Instead of taking responsibility for his failed policies and correcting course, he is resurrecting a five-year-old lie in the hopes that Americans won’t notice they’re going broke and paying more at the grocery store.” 

Thompson added that Krebs did the job that Trump appointed him to do.

The order contends that Krebs fueled the agency’s “censorship” efforts and calls him “a significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority.” It adds that the former official “baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen” from the president.

CISA came into existence in November 2018, when a law signed by Trump transformed the National Protection and Programs Directorate in the Department of Homeland Security into a component with more broad authority for handling cybersecurity threats and infrastructure security. Krebs served as its first director from 2018 until his firing in November 2020.

CISA has drawn vast criticism from both Trump and other members of the GOP for its past efforts to combat mis- and disinformation posted about the 2020 election, COVID-19 and other flashpoint issues on social media. The efforts involved notifying companies of online content that contained elements of misinformation or disinformation — either deliberately crafted or strategically amplified — by both foreign adversaries and domestic actors. 

Conservative legal challenges contended that the government’s role in flagging posts deemed misleading or false resulted in the suppression of politically conservative viewpoints. That dynamic has continued into Trump’s second administration, where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has vowed to curtail the size and scope of CISA. The agency is expected to face more staffing cuts soon.

Noem was seen in the room with Trump when he signed the order targeting Krebs. Trump, at point of signing, said the election was “badly rigged” and called Krebs a “wise guy.”

The order also claims that Krebs “covertly worked to blind the American public to the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s laptop.” In 2020, 51 former intelligence officials signed a letter suggesting a major Hunter Biden laptop story written in the New York Post had the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation operation. 

The laptop was later confirmed to be authentic, and no evidence of a Russian operation emerged. Trump has since used the development to contend that the intelligence community has been weaponized against him. At the start of his second term, the president signed an executive order that targeted those 51 former officials. 

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include a comment from SentinelOne.