Yet Another Red Flag -- Election Fraud is now okay?

Domestic cybercrime given a loophole.

June 11, 2025

On June 6, 2025, the Trump administration issued a new Executive Order¹ that amends and weakens prior cybersecurity protections—and in the process, removes a critical tool for pursuing domestic cybercriminals. While the order presents itself as a routine update, the reality is more troubling. It systematically strips teeth from earlier executive orders, especially Executive Orders 14144 (January 2025) and 13694 (April 2015), both of which were designed to bolster national cybersecurity and hold bad actors accountable.

Among the many changes, one stands out as a flashing red warning:

Executive Order 13694, which once allowed sanctions against any person engaging in significant malicious cyber-enabled activities, now applies only to foreign persons.

This seemingly small edit—a change of two words—has major implications. It eliminates the authority to impose sanctions on U.S. citizens who engage in severe cybercrime, including those who may have participated in interference with our elections.

Why does this matter?

It opens the door for domestic bad actors—people within our own borders—to conduct malicious cyber operations without the same level of accountability. It reduces our ability to respond swiftly and decisively to threats that originate from within. And it does so at a time when faith in our electoral infrastructure is already fragile.

Many already suspect that Elon Musk played a pivotal role in helping Trump “fix” the 2024 election—not just through his financial support, which reportedly exceeded $200 million (and may be far higher), but also through his vast and largely unaccountable technical infrastructure. With access to an arsenal of cybersecurity and AI resources, Musk has the capability to exploit the notoriously weak digital defenses of local election offices. Whether through direct interference or by enabling others, this raises serious concerns about how a manipulated result could have been engineered to secure a Trump victory.

And isn’t that nice. Now Musk need not worry that he can be held accountable. It’s disgusting.

Background

Executive Order 13694 was originally issued in 2015 under President Obama to deter cyber-enabled threats to critical infrastructure and democratic processes. It empowered the U.S. government to freeze assets and deny entry to any individual who engaged in significant cyberattacks. This bipartisan tool was extended and strengthened across multiple administrations—until now.

The new order rewrites the scope of this authority, targeting only foreign nationals. Why exclude Americans from accountability in cyberspace? Why now?

It’s worth noting that this change comes after an election that remains clouded in controversy, with widespread concerns about digital manipulation and vote tampering. The timing is not subtle.

Other concerning changes

• The removal of specific references to shared threat information between the Department of Defense and civilian agencies weakens collective defense mechanisms.

• Critical language regarding intrusion detection, hardware root of trust, and security patches has been deleted.

• Post-quantum cryptography transition deadlines are pushed out to 2030.

• AI’s role in cyber defense is emphasized—but with vague deliverables and no concrete accountability.

This is not an upgrade. It’s a rollback.

What does this tell us?

This is yet another signal that the current administration is not prioritizing national cybersecurity, especially not when it conflicts with protecting politically aligned bad actors. In fact, it appears that the rules are being rewritten to shield them.

It also shows how executive authority can be quietly weaponized. One might expect that a law protecting against “significant malicious cyber-enabled activities” would be above partisan tinkering. But apparently, even cybersecurity is fair game.

And so the pattern continues: weaken enforcement, rewrite the rules, and create cover for loyal insiders. It’s not just a red flag. It’s a neon sign.

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Update: We’ve continuing to work to evaluate the 2024 election to find how if and how it was altered to put us on the course toward fascism and authoritarianism, because it was surprising and we know the motive, means, and opportunity all existed. We are finally getting some response from the Nevada SOS and Clark County, with a partial response after about 6 months.

• Prior Post: https://raylutz.substack.com/p/the-parable-of-snake-river-rocks "The Parable of Snake River Rocks"

• Next Post:

  "Trump's Executive Order on Elections, Barcodes on Ballots & EAC's VVSG 2.1 -- Barcodes will become more prevalent in current draft"

• All Posts: https://substack.com/@raylutz/posts

1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/sustaining-select-efforts-to-strengthen-the-nations-cybersecurity-and-amending-executive-order-13694-and-executive-order-14144/