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ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration has cut millions of dollars in federal funding from two cybersecurity initiatives, including one dedicated to helping state and local election officials.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, has ended about $10 million in annual funding to the nonprofit Center for Internet Security, a CISA spokesperson said in an email Monday.

It鈥檚 the latest move by Trump administration officials to rein in the federal government鈥檚 role in election security, which has prompted concerns about an erosion of guardrails to prevent foreign meddling in U.S. elections.

CISA announced a few weeks ago that it was conducting a review of its election-related work, and more than a dozen staffers who have worked on elections were placed on administrative leave. That followed an administration move to disband an FBI task force focused on investigating foreign influence operations, including those that target U.S. elections.

鈥淚 have grave concern for state and local election officials and for the security of our elections going forward,鈥� said Larry Norden, an election security expert at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU鈥檚 School of Law.

In recent years, CISA has faced sustained criticism from Republicans over past efforts to counter misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and the coronavirus pandemic. Previous CISA leadership had said the agency never engaged in censorship and only worked with states to help them notify social media companies about misinformation spreading on their platforms.

When asked Monday if the review of CISA鈥檚 election work was complete and if the agency could share a copy of the report, an agency spokesperson said it was an internal review to 鈥渉elp inform how the agency moves forward to best support critical infrastructure鈥� and was not planned for public release.

The two cybersecurity initiatives facing cuts are the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which included state and local election officials along with representatives of voting system manufacturers, and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which has benefited state, local and tribal government offices.

Both have been organized within a nonprofit, the Center for Internet Security.

The activities no longer being funded include cyber threat intelligence, cyber incident response and engaging with state and local government officials. In a statement, the agency said ending the funding will help “focus CISA鈥檚 work on mission critical areas, and eliminate redundancies.鈥�

Following CISA鈥檚 decision, the Center for Internet Security posted a notice online that it was no longer supporting the election-specific initiative. A spokesperson for the Center for Internet Security did not respond to questions sent by email about the effects of the cuts.

The National Association of Secretaries of State, comprised of top state election officials from across the country, was seeking information from CISA about the move and its recent election-specific review, said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat who is president of the bipartisan group.

Simon said he was waiting for more information before drawing conclusions. He said the group鈥檚 executive board recently sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging CISA to continue services to state and local election officials, including support for the election information sharing center.

鈥淲e got a lot out of it,鈥� Simon said Monday.

CISA falls under the Department of Homeland Security, although it has its own Senate-confirmed director. President Donald Trump has yet to nominate someone as CISA director. The agency was formed in 2018 during the first Trump administration and is charged with protecting the nation鈥檚 critical infrastructure, from dams and nuclear power plants to banks and voting systems.

A spokesperson for the National Association of State Election Directors said the group was hoping to learn more from the Center for Internet Security about the effect of the federal cuts on its operations.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who served as chair of the executive committee for the election information sharing initiative, said it provided crucial support during last year’s presidential election. Election officials were reporting malicious cyberattacks and sharing important details in real time, which she said allowed Maine to preemptively block those attempting to target her state’s networks.

鈥淲e will find a way to protect our elections,” said Bellows, a Democrat. “But given the sophistication of these threats, the elimination of the (information sharing initiative) is both inefficient and extremely dangerous.鈥�