EFF Leads Prominent Security Experts in Urging Trump Administration to Leave Chris Krebs Alone

SAN FRANCISCO – The Trump Administration must cease its politically motivated investigation of former U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and dozens of prominent cybersecurity and election security experts urged in an open letter. 

The letter – signed by preeminent names from academia, civil society, and the private sector – notes that security researchers play a vital role in protecting our democracy, securing our elections, and building, testing, and safeguarding government infrastructure. 

“By placing Krebs and SentinelOne in the crosshairs, the President is signaling that cybersecurity professionals whose findings do not align with his narrative risk having their businesses and livelihoods subjected to spurious and retaliatory targeting, the same bullying tactic he has recently used against law firms,” EFF’s letter said. “As members of the cybersecurity profession and information security community, we counter with a strong stand in defense of our professional obligation to report truthful findings, even – and especially – when they do not fit the playbook of the powerful. And we stand with Chris Krebs for doing just that.” 

President Trump appointed Krebs as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in November 2018, and then fired him in November 2020 after Krebs publicly contradicted Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. 

Trump issued a presidential memorandum on April 9 directing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to investigate Krebs, and directing Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to revoke security clearances held by Krebs and the cybersecurity company for which he worked, SentinelOne.  EFF’s letter urges that both of these actions be reversed immediately. 

“An independent infosec community is fundamental to protecting our democracy, and to the profession itself,” EFF’s letter said. “It is only by allowing us to do our jobs and report truthfully on systems in an impartial and factual way without fear of political retribution that we can hope to secure those systems. We take this responsibility upon ourselves with the collective knowledge that if any one of us is targeted for our work hardening these systems, then we all can be. We must not let that happen. And united, we will not let that happen.” 

EFF also has filed friend-of-the-court briefs supporting four law firms targeted for retribution in Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders. 

For the letter in support of Krebs: https://www.eff.org/document/chris-krebs-support-letter-april-28-2025

To sign onto the letter: https://eff.org/r.uq1r