David Havilich, who holds the top post at the Department of Homeland Security, sets policy on protecting the nation’s election infrastructure, including voting machines.
He is also the co-founder of a company with James Penrose that helped debunk the conspiracy theory that hacked voting machines were responsible for Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election. Penrose helped push for the occupation of voting machines to overturn Trump’s defeat.
On social media, Mr. Hurvilitz called for the removal of voting machines, saying they were “highly vulnerable to exploitation.” “DHS needs to ban voting machines in all federal elections. The time is now,” he wrote in a March post. He has also repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of Democrats’ electoral victories and called for an overhaul of the electoral system that favors Republicans.
David Havirich, 2015 Sam Comen/The New York Times/Redux
Election experts and current and former Homeland Security officials say Mr. Havilich’s central role overseeing the security of election systems and voting machines is especially concerning at a time when the government is taking unprecedented steps to justify President Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. These include the FBI seizing 2020 voting records from Fulton County, Georgia, and having Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s team store voting machines used in Puerto Rico in 2020.
“The security of our election infrastructure depends on trusted, impartial, evidence-based leadership, not individuals who have promoted conspiracy theories about the very systems they are now charged with protecting,” said Daniel Lang, vice president of voting rights and rule of law at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization. “Putting someone with such a background in charge of policies that affect election security could undermine public confidence in elections at a time when that trust is already fragile.”
DHS did not respond to detailed questions about Harvilicz or his team, instead offering a more general statement about the work the agency has done. “DHS and its staff are committed to keeping elections safe, secure, and free.” “Department of Homeland Security appointees work every day to implement the President’s policies and keep our homeland safe.”
Mr. Hurvilitz did not respond to questions about DHS’s role. Hervilich’s X account lists his post as assistant secretary for cyber, infrastructure, risk and resilience policy at DHS, but his details have been passed on to the Department of Defense. (Such temporary assignments are typically made in 120-day increments.)
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Havilitz was appointed to the DHS job around July, taking on a role that had previously focused primarily on shaping policy to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure, including the election system.
But current and former DHS officials say Harvilicz and his team have transformed the job to be more hands-on. Officials say they have been deeply involved in facilitating multiple government data collection efforts aimed at scrutinizing non-citizen voter rolls. ProPublica reported on one such effort that resulted in hundreds of citizens being incorrectly reported as possible noncitizens.
Havilich’s team also includes Heather Haney, assistant secretary for election integrity. ProPublica reported that Haney previously led the Election Integrity Network, a conservative group that has challenged the legitimacy of America’s election system. Honey worked closely with the network’s leader, Cleta Mitchell, who played a key role in helping Trump seek to overturn his 2020 defeat.
Mr. Havilich also reports directly to Samantha Anderson, a data expert who previously helped elect Mr. Trump through the advocacy arm of the America First Policy Institute, a think tank with close ties to the president.
Several officials and election experts said they feared Mr. Hurvilitz and Mr. Hany would play a key role in assessing and explaining the cybersecurity of the upcoming election to both the public and administration leaders. They also expressed concern that if Mr. Trump wanted to regain control of voting machines after the election, perhaps if Republicans lost seats in the midterm elections, Mr. Hurvilitz would be ideally placed to help.
“It would be very easy for them to get voting machines,” a current DHS official said, adding, “If they don’t like the results, they can write whatever they want.”
Harvilicz co-founded Tranquility AI, which developed artificial intelligence tools for law enforcement, with Penrose and is listed on 2,025 patents as co-developing the company’s systems.
Penrose, a former intelligence officer, played a leading role in Trump’s unsuccessful campaign to overturn the 2020 election, ProPublica reported. Mr. Penrose has also participated in several attempts to secretly seize voting machines, including one in Michigan where prosecutors have accused him of breaking into some voting machines. (Mr. Penrose was not charged in the case.) According to the Washington Post, he is believed to be an unindicted co-conspirator in the failed Georgia prosecutor’s charge against Mr. Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn the election results.
Penrose did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
According to the company’s website, one of the envisioned uses for the Tranquility AI product is “election integrity.” He did not provide further details in response to questions from ProPublica.
Tranquility AI’s tools to help law enforcement crunch data and compile cases have been adopted by the New Orleans district attorney, and the company says it is partnering with dozens of law enforcement agencies across the country. In July 2025, a major government IT contractor announced a partnership with Tranquility AI.
Mr. Hervilitz began his career at a Wall Street law firm and in the technology industry. Then in 2004, when he was 29 years old, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Maryland General Assembly. He then helped run a crowdfunding company, a movie marketing business, a film production business in collaboration with former intelligence officers, and several cybersecurity ventures (including one in collaboration with Penrose). He also served as the Department of Energy’s cybersecurity official during the first Trump administration.
Before Harvilich took the DHS position, Tranquility AI donated $100,000 to President Trump’s inaugural fund through a newly formed nonprofit based at Harvilich’s home address, according to The Intercept. In response to questions from The Intercept, Mr. Hurvilitz said the donation was made to help him meet with policymakers in the administration. The Intercept first reported the connection to Penrose in connection with the donation.
Hervilitz posts frequently on social media, sharing hundreds of posts with conservative content. “We will now dismantle the near-communist takeover of America and make America great again,” Trump wrote after winning a second presidential term.
In 2020, Hervilich bought a $3.3 million home in the Los Angeles suburbs.
After the Palisades fire broke out near the beginning of President Trump’s second term, Ms. Hervilitz stood on the side of the road, carrying her young son on her shoulders, to greet the president as he toured the disaster area. His son held up a photo of a bloody President Trump punching the air after surviving an assassin’s bullet.
Even then, the election was still on his mind. He told a Los Angeles Times reporter that he supports President Trump in making disaster aid conditional on Democratic states implementing voter ID.
“I hope he saw us,” Hervilitz told a Times reporter.
