Tulsi Gabbard’s intelligence shop quietly swept up voting machines in Puerto Rico last spring, hauling off hardware and data for a deep dive that has now spilled into a national fight over who polices American elections.
Her Office of the Director of National Intelligence led a review of electronic voting machines used across the island, taking an unspecified number of devices and forensic copies of their data. The ODNI later told reporters that its technical team uncovered “extremely concerning” cybersecurity and operational practices. At the same time, people familiar with the probe say investigators did not find clear proof that Venezuela had broken into Puerto Rico’s election systems, a gap that has only sharpened questions about how far federal intelligence should reach into domestic voting infrastructure.
As first reported by the Honolulu Star‑Advertiser, which republished Reuters reporting, Gabbard's ODNI confirmed that it carried out the review in May 2025 and described the removal of machines and data as “standard practice in forensics analysis.” The account says ODNI teamed up with the FBI’s Southern Florida field office to chase allegations that Venezuelan actors might have targeted Puerto Rico’s systems, but investigators did not uncover clear evidence of foreign interference. Gabbard’s office also argued it has statutory authority to probe election vulnerabilities linked to foreign or other malign threats.
What ODNI found
A technical snapshot of what ODNI uncovered, summarized in local coverage, was not pretty. The office flagged the use of vulnerable cellular technology and software weaknesses that could, in theory, give unauthorized users far-reaching access to election systems, according to Metro Puerto Rico. Officials described those issues as a mix of operational breakdowns and cybersecurity failures that might show up in other U.S. jurisdictions that rely on similar equipment.
From ODNI’s perspective, this was a forensic scan of technical risks, not a whodunit built to prove that a foreign government had already broken in. The emphasis, they said, was on mapping vulnerabilities that could be exploited rather than securing indictments.
Why intelligence involvement raises questions
The Puerto Rico episode blew back into the spotlight after Gabbard showed up at an FBI search of an elections facility in Fulton County, Georgia, last month. Her appearance at the scene raised eyebrows and prompted accusations that the ODNI might be drifting into domestic law enforcement turf.
Reporting by The Washington Post quoted lawmakers and former intelligence officials who warned that steering intelligence agencies toward hands-on roles in local election administration risks politicizing a spy apparatus that is supposed to stay above the partisan fray. Supporters counter that rooting out foreign interference and the weak spots that make it possible sits squarely within the DNI’s mandate to protect U.S. election infrastructure from overseas threats.
Puerto Rico officials push back
On the island, some leaders say Washington is looking in the wrong place. Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner in the U.S. capital, Pablo José Hernández Rivera, told local media that most election problems are driven by “incompetence and corruption, not foreign interference,” according to El Nuevo Día.
Officials on the island have been asking for federal help to modernize their election systems for years. Some now worry that a splashy federal intelligence review could inflame partisan narratives and fuel conspiracy theories instead of delivering the boring, nuts-and-bolts upgrades they say are desperately needed. The tension highlights a tricky balancing act: how to fix real technical flaws without supercharging unproven stories about foreign hackers lurking behind every glitch.
What comes next
Gabbard’s office has told both lawmakers and the press that ODNI has the authority to coordinate reviews of foreign threats to election infrastructure. That has not quieted Capitol Hill. Congressional committees are demanding briefings on the Puerto Rico review itself and on why the director of national intelligence was physically present at the Georgia search.
In a letter released this week, Gabbard said President Trump personally asked her to observe the FBI operation in Georgia, a detail reported by PBS NewsHour. She defended ODNI’s moves as part of a broader push to map election-system vulnerabilities.
For Puerto Rico’s voters and election workers, the real test comes next: whether this federal scrutiny turns into practical audits, better safeguards, and upgraded technology, or whether it mostly adds another chapter to the never-ending national drama over how America runs its elections.
