Democrats Document Staffing Gaps In Counterterrorism And Election Security

The Department of Homeland Security’s decision to shift staff to immigration enforcement and combating alleged left-wing extremist groups has left substantial staffing gaps in U.S. counterterrorism and election security operations, according to a report released by Senate Democrats on Thursday.

As many as 1,294 external law enforcement personnel were pulled from other parts of the federal government to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry out deportations and removal operations in August 2025, according to the report, which drew on public reporting about DHS and other federal staffing reallocations, as well as briefings between the committee’s staff and DHS officials.

While DHS had said that it reassigned staff, the numbers were not previously known, nor the offices they had been pulled from.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security committee, told reporters ahead of the report’s release that nearly 25 years after the 9/11 terror attacks — which motivated the creation of DHS — counterterrorism infrastructure has been “basically eviscerated.”

“These cuts … have made Americans less safe,” Peters said, adding the administration’s actions are “putting our communities at risk for future terrorist attacks.”

The Trump administration has insisted its emphasis on immigration has been needed to address breaches in domestic security that resulted from the Biden administration’s handling of a major influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the primary objects of the report’s attention is DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis, an in-house intelligence agency that shares information with local, state and tribal partners about threats to U.S. national security. DHS, per the report, has not filled 300 vacancies within Intelligence and Analysis. And the report alleges that the office, like other parts of the intelligence community, has been pressured to conform its analyses to the president’s desire to target leftist extremist groups.

The report also provided additional details about the impact of staff cuts of election security professionals at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Under former Secretary Kristi Noem, the agency saw major staff cuts and voluntary departures that she said had strayed from its mission under the Biden administration.

Though the administration and congressional Republicans have reembraced the agency — and though CISA told Congress that it would prioritize hiring staff to support its election security efforts — CISA informed the Senate Homeland Security committee that none of the staff it rehires will be in place in time for the November midterm elections.

CISA also acknowledged that it has not done “gap analysis” to evaluate the risks created when the agency in October 2025 killed a program to help fund state-level efforts to protect election security infrastructure.

The report repeatedly highlights what Democrats see as a lack of transparency from DHS about its staffing reallocations. The report says that DHS did not specify what qualified as staffing contributions to ICE efforts when it provided the data in September 2025, and the agency has not since provided updated numbers.