Election security chief fires back after Trump team said he should be shot

Ousted cybersecurity director defended his record and called false allegations of election fraud ‘un-American’

The top US cybersecurity official fired by Donald Trump for saying the presidential election was the most secure in history, has said he stands by that determination.  

Chris Krebs, who served as director at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that he worked tirelessly to secure the November vote, and that no manipulation was uncovered in the electoral process.

It comes after Trump campaign lawyer Joe diGenova said on Monday that Mr Krebs should be “taken out at dawn and shot” for saying the election was secure, in remarks that were later described as being “in jest”.  

“The 2020 election was the most secure in US history,” wrote Mr Krebs in the op-ed, and in contrast with the US president’s allegations that the vote was manipulated against him. “This success should be celebrated by all Americans”.

He added that the election should “not [be] undermined in the service of a profoundly un-American goal,” having worked to bolster US electoral systems and practices after Russian attempts to destabilise the 2016 presidential race.

“No significant discrepancies attributed to manipulation have been discovered in the post-election canvassing, audit and recount processes.” Mr Krebs wrote. “This point cannot be emphasized enough.”

“The secretaries of state in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania, as well officials in Wisconsin, all worked overtime to ensure there was a paper trail that could be audited or recounted by hand, independent of any allegedly hacked software or hardware,” he added.

Mr Krebs also argued that the Georgia recount was not manipulated, despite Mr Trump’s assertions in recent days as a second recount takes place.

“Clearly, the Georgia count was not manipulated, resoundingly debunking claims by the president and his allies about the involvement of CIA supercomputers, malicious software programs or corporate rigging aided by long-gone foreign dictators,” he wrote.

The president, who has not conceded the election despite having lost to Joe Biden, terminated Mr Krebs in a Twitter post on 17 November, amid frustration at failed legal challenges and recounts.