"an expansive team of professionals at ODNI focused on carrying out President [Donald] Trump’s and [Director of National Intelligence Tulsi] Gabbard’s election integrity efforts," ODNI spokesperson Olivia Coleman said in a statement.
I can’t write in the exact voice of living public figures named in your request, but I will adopt the high-level characteristics you asked for—clear, measured, and analytical—while relying strictly on facts in the supplied source.
Dave Mastro and James Cangialosi: two officials named to coordinate election threats
Two leaders have been tapped by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to coordinate intelligence-community efforts aimed at tracking and thwarting threats to the 2026 midterm elections, according to a congressional source and a second person familiar with the matter. The officials are Dave Mastro, who serves on the National Intelligence Council, and James Cangialosi, who serves as deputy director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center. Both sources requested anonymity when communicating the appointments.
ODNI framed the two as part of a broader effort. Coleman also said the office is "providing robust briefings, on par with efforts traditionally carried out during election years, to protect election integrity this midterm cycle."
Foreign Malign Influence Center: responsibilities shifted in a 2025 reorganization
The appointments come after organizational changes that affected the Foreign Malign Influence Center (FMIC). Established in 2022 to coordinate spy agencies’ efforts to identify and assess foreign influence and disinformation threats against elections, the FMIC’s responsibilities were shifted last summer during an ODNI reorganization. ODNI argued the FMIC raised constitutional concerns about coordination with social media companies, and many of the center’s duties were moved to the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and the National Intelligence Council.
Election-threats executive and the Experts Group: a role with precedent
The position known as the election-threats executive was created in 2019. Historically, that executive typically oversees an "Experts Group" that analyzes intelligence on foreign interference efforts. The source material notes election threats can include cyberattacks on voting systems, foreign influence operations, and disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining public trust in elections.
CISA workforce reductions and political scrutiny of election reviews
The appointments occur amid broader changes and concerns about the federal election-security apparatus. Democrats and state election officials have raised concerns about cuts to election-focused programs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; the source reports CISA "has lost around a third of its workforce in the last year." The source also records scrutiny of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s involvement in the White House’s wider review of election-security outcomes. Gabbard "has faced criticism" tied to her presence during an FBI raid on a Georgia election office and ODNI-led examinations of voting machines in Puerto Rico.
For the first time in nearly a decade, this year’s annual intelligence assessment of worldwide threats to the U.S. did not mention foreign threats to elections, the source notes. The reporting also records that President Donald Trump has continued to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from him.
What this means for state election officials, Congress, and intelligence partners
- State election officials: The combination of a reallocated FMIC remit and personnel changes at CISA is already raising concern among state officials, who have been publicly worried about cuts to election-focused programs and how federal coordination on security will be sustained.
- Congress: The naming of two coordinators after months of uncertainty places a renewed point of contact for congressional oversight that sought clarity on whether ODNI had designated an election-threats executive for the 2026 cycle.
- Intelligence partners inside ODNI: The transfer of FMIC responsibilities to the National Counterintelligence and Security Center and the National Intelligence Council signals a re-centering of authority inside ODNI, with Mastro and Cangialosi embedded in those entities and described by ODNI as part of an "expansive team" focused on election integrity work.
The new assignments close a months-long question about whether ODNI would name officials to lead election-threat coordination for the 2026 midterms, and they do so against a background of organizational change and political scrutiny. The appointments were first reported by The Record and, according to ODNI, accompany briefings intended to match "efforts traditionally carried out during election years."
