CISA Acting Director Tells State Officials Agency Writing Off 2026 Election Cycle as Iran-Affiliated Hackers Target Water Systems in 30 States

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told The Atlantic he got the impression CISA is "mostly writing off the 2026 election cycle" for direct state services, after Acting Director Nick Andersen faced sharp questioning from Democratic secretaries of state on a Monday video call and gave noncommittal answers on resuming intelligence briefings and penetration testing before November 1. Andersen told the group some election-related services might not resume until 2027 1. Separately, Andersen told Nextgov/FCW that CISA and the FBI are assisting utilities across roughly 12 states hit by intrusions targeting water-system programmable logic controllers, many found exposed online with no password or default passwords set, but said the agency is not attributing the activity to any actor 2. Minnesota officials have said more than 30 community water systems were targeted, and a CISA notice to utilities said the Minnesota activity shared characteristics with a prior Iran-affiliated campaign without directly linking the two 2. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told The Atlantic his office no longer reports incidents directly to CISA, citing distrust after the agency cut support and threatened investigations 1.