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DHS responds after reports CISA chief allegedly failed polygraph for classified intel access
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is disputing reports that acting Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph after seeking access to highly sensitive intelligence, as an internal investigation and the suspension of multiple career cybersecurity officials deepen turmoil inside the agency, according to a report.
Politico reported that Gottumukkala pushed for access to a tightly restricted intelligence program that required a counter-intelligence polygraph and that at least six career staffers were later placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly misleading leadership about the requirement, an assertion DHS strongly denies.
The outlet said its reporting was based on interviews with four former and eight current cybersecurity officials, including multiple Trump administration appointees who worked with Gottumukkala or had knowledge of the polygraph examination and the events that followed. All 12 were granted anonymity over concerns about retaliation, according to Politico.
DHS pushed back on the reporting, saying the polygraph at issue was not authorized and that disciplinary action against career staff complied with department policy.
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DHS disputes reports that acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph as staff are suspended amid an internal investigation and intel access dispute. (CISA Facebook)
«Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala did not fail a sanctioned polygraph test. An unsanctioned polygraph test was coordinated by staff, misleading incoming CISA leadership,» DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. «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,» she continued. «Acting Director Gottumukkala has the complete and full support of the Secretary and is laser focused on returning the agency to its statutory mission.»
Politico also reported that Gottumukkala failed a polygraph during the final week of July, citing five current officials and one former official.
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DHS disputes reports that acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph as staff are suspended amid an internal investigation and intel access dispute. (CISA Facebook)
The test was administered to determine whether he would be eligible to review one of the most sensitive intelligence programs shared with CISA by another U.S. spy agency, according to the outlet.
That intelligence was part of a controlled access program with strict distribution limits, and the originating agency required any CISA personnel granted need-to-know access to first pass a counter-intelligence polygraph, according to four current officials and one former official cited by Politico.
As a civilian agency, most CISA employees do not require access to such highly classified material or a polygraph to be hired, though polygraphs are commonly used across the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community to protect the government’s most sensitive information.
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A person administers a polygraph test. (Getty Images)
Politico reported that senior staff raised questions on at least two occasions about whether Gottumukkala needed access to the intelligence, but said he continued pressing for it even if it meant taking a polygraph, citing four current officials.
The outlet also reported that an initial access request in early June, signed by mid-level CISA staff, was denied by a senior agency official who determined there was no urgent need-to-know and noted that the agency’s previous deputy director had not viewed the program.
That senior official was later placed on administrative leave for unrelated reasons in late June, and a second access request signed by Gottumukkala was approved in early July after the official was no longer in the role, according to current officials cited by Politico.
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DHS disputes reports that acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph as staff are suspended amid an internal investigation and intel access dispute. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Despite being advised that access to the most sensitive material was not essential to his job and that lower-classification alternatives were available, Gottumukkala continued to pursue access, officials told the outlet.
Officials interviewed by Politico said they could not definitively explain why Gottumukkala did not pass the July polygraph and cautioned that failures can occur for innocuous reasons such as anxiety or technical errors, noting that polygraph results are generally not admissible in U.S. courts.
On Aug. 1, shortly after the polygraph, at least six career staff involved in scheduling and approving the test were notified in letters from then–acting DHS Chief Security Officer Michael Boyajian that their access to classified national security information was being temporarily suspended for potentially misleading Gottumukkala, according to officials and a letter reviewed by Politico.
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«This action is being taken due to information received by this office that you may have participated in providing false information to the acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) regarding the existence of a requirement for a polygraph examination prior to accessing certain programs,» the letter said. «The above allegation shows deliberate or negligent failure to follow policies that protect government information, which raises concerns regarding an individual’s trustworthiness, judgment, reliability or willingness and ability to safeguard classified information.»
In a separate letter dated Aug. 4, the suspended employees were informed by Acting CISA Chief Human Capital Officer Kevin Diana that they had been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, according to current and former officials and a copy reviewed by Politico.
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Gottumukkala was appointed CISA deputy director in May and previously served as commissioner and chief information officer for South Dakota’s Bureau of Information and Technology, which oversees statewide technology and cybersecurity initiatives.
CISA said in a May press release that Gottumukkala has more than two decades of experience in information technology and cybersecurity across the public and private sectors.
homeland security,national security,cybercrime,investigations
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FBI subpoenas 2020 Arizona voting docs as federal push into election administration widens
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An Arizona state lawmaker revealed Monday that federal authorities subpoenaed him for records related to the 2020 election, marking the second publicly confirmed jurisdiction the Department of Justice is investigating over the matter.
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, said in a social media post he received the subpoena for material related to the state Senate’s 2020 audit last week and complied with it.
«Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County,» Petersen wrote. «The FBI has the records. Any other report is fake news.»
The request represents an expansion of a federal probe tied to 2020 after the DOJ initially targeted Fulton County, Georgia. The development also comes as President Donald Trump has grown increasingly outspoken about election security in the lead-up to the 2026 midterms, renewing his attention on disputes stemming from the last presidential race.
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An election worker removes a ballot from an envelope to count and inspect the pages inside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center (MCTEC) on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Petersen made the revelation after President Donald Trump shared a Just the News report about the subpoena on Truth Social, writing, «Great!!! FBI secretly seizes election records from Arizona’s largest county as voting probe expands.»
Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the election probe to Fox News, saying the DOJ is looking at a large tranche of Arizona data from 2020 and 2024.
President Donald Trump listens during an event about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
The White House directed Fox News Digital to the FBI on Monday when asked for comment. The FBI declined to comment.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, an elected Democrat, said the new investigation was based on claims that courts and state investigators have proven wrong.
«What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry,» Mayes said in a statement. «It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.»
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Attendees listen as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) speaks at an «Only Citizens Vote» bus tour rally advocating passage of the SAVE Act at Upper Senate Park outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The subpoena comes as the president increasingly focuses on election security ahead of the 2026 midterms, telling Congress in a social media post on Sunday that he will not sign any legislation into law until it passes the SAVE America Act.
The bill’s primary purpose is to require voters nationwide to show physical identification to prove citizenship to vote in federal elections. The version of the bill Trump is pushing would also ban mail-in ballots except for the military and in other extenuating circumstances.
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Maricopa, Arizona’s most populous county, was a hotbed for accusations of voter fraud in 2020. Fulton County, Georgia, faced similar accusations, with the DOJ launching a separate investigation into the 2020 election earlier this year.
Trump lost Arizona in 2020 by about 0.3 percentage points. The president refused to concede, and his legal team brought a series of lawsuits alleging vote-counting irregularities, but none were successful.
Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
fbi,arizona,elections,donald trump,politics
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Biden-appointed judge in the hot seat after DHS fires back at ‘false’ claims about ICE facility
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The Department of Homeland Security on Monday blasted a federal judge’s order requiring it to immediately improve conditions at its ICE processing facility in Baltimore — including reducing the number of detainees held there at one time, and improving access to food, hygiene, and medical care — telling Fox News Digital that the court’s determination of any «subprime» conditions or overcrowding are «false.»
«Illegal aliens in custody are provided food, water, blankets, and hygiene products,» a spokesperson for DHS said Monday, alleging that ICE «has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,» including access to «comprehensive» medical care.
The characterization comes hours after a federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction Monday ordering ICE to either drastically improve conditions at its Baltimore processing center or find a new facility to «humanely» and legally hold the migrants before transferring them to a longer-term detention center.
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ICE Director Todd Lyons. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images andJohn Moore/Getty Images )
U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin, a Biden appointee, sided with plaintiffs Monday in ruling that Baltimore’s holding center conditions are «unhygienic, unsanitary,» and ultimately, unconstitutional.
Rubin used a 67-page preliminary injunction to carefully tick through a long list of egregious conditions alleged by lawyers for plaintiffs over the last 10 months, including allegations of squalid, unsanitary holding, severe overcrowding, and a lack of medical screening, access to medical care, and necessary treatment — which the judge noted could lead to liability issues, or «in the worst-case scenario, fatalities.»
«The debated issue here is not defendants’ legitimate governmental interest; it is that defendants apparently dispense with even rudimentary decent, humane treatment of civil detainees, and so too their constitutional rights as a result,» Rubin said in the preliminary injunction, which applies to all current and future detainees at the holding facility operated by Baltimore’s ICE Field Office.
She sided with plaintiffs in ruling that the conditions in Baltimore are «unlawfully punitive» and reflect a «deliberate indifference to the health, safety, and medical needs» on behalf of the government, in violation of the Fifth Amendment and due process protections granted under the U.S. Constitution.
Rubin also rejected the notion that ICE detainees and illegal immigrants are not entitled to due process, citing the Supreme Court precedent under Zadvydas v. Davis, which holds that such protections apply to «all ‘persons’» within the U.S. «including [noncitizens], whether their presence here is lawful, unlawful, temporary, or permanent.»
A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that migrants detained at the ICE holding center in Baltimore are granted «comprehensive» health care, including «medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care,» and rejected claims made by plaintiffs and the judge.
«This is the best healthcare tha[t] many aliens have received in their entire lives,» the spokesperson added.
Rubin, in the court order, does not appear to back that contention.
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President Donald Trump and the logo for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are seen side-by-side in this split image. (Photos by Getty Images) (Getty Images)
«This is not a case of a prisoner lacking access to a clean toilet for a period of days, nor is it a case where a pretrial detainee cannot shower and is not provided with hygiene items …» Rubin said in the preliminary injunction, which comes after one year of status hearings, amended complaints, and declarations provided to the court from Trump administration officials and others.
«Rather, the conditions here are compounded: civilly detained people are stuffed into unclean cells by the dozens, without basic hygiene essentials, while exposed to a virtually open unclean toilet (and those detained making use of same),» Rubin said.
«These conditions woefully fail to comport with ‘contemporary standards of decency,» she continued.
DHS also rejected claims of inadequate medical care, including complaints from plaintiffs’ lawyers and cited by the court in which individuals with serious medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, leukemia, and broken bones were denied medications or medical attention.
Government records cited by the judge show that between February and September 2025, just eight out of 3,250 detainees held at the Baltimore ICE facility had been transported to a hospital for medical needs.
Rubin is not the first federal judge to order U.S. immigration officials to immediately improve conditions at ICE processing centers or «holding» centers across the country during Trump’s second presidential term.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) logo is seen in a federal building. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In August, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued an emergency order requiring ICE to swiftly address allegations of filthy, overcrowded cells and prolonged stays at an ICE processing facility in New York City. The following month, he slapped ICE with a more lasting preliminary injunction seeking to codify those changes.
And in Minnesota, a federal judge last month issued a temporary restraining order requiring ICE to grant detainees at its Whipple Federal Building holding center access to counsel, attorney-client visits, and a 72-hour notice period before transferring detainees out of the state.
The administration has not yet indicated whether it will appeal the judge’s ruling. Still, DHS officials sharply rejected the allegations of improper treatment, telling Fox News Digital that being in detention «is a choice.»
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«We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App,» they said, noting that the U.S. «is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport,» as former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem noted during congressional testimony last week.
«If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return,» they added.
donald trump,politics,federal courts,immigration,supreme court,joe biden,migrant crime
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