In his top position at the Department of Homeland Security, David Harvilicz sets policy for protecting the nation’s election infrastructure, including voting machines.
He is also co-founder of a company with James Penrose, which helped create debunked conspiracy theories blaming voting machine hacking for Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Penrose helped seize voting machines to overturn Trump’s defeat.
On social networksHarvilicz called for remove voting machinessaying they are “eminently vulnerable to exploitation.” In an article from Marchhe wrote that “DHS must ban voting machines for all federal elections. The time is now.” He also has questioned several times THE validity of Democratic electoral victories and lobbied for the Republicans reform electoral systems has their advantage.
Election experts as well as current and former DHS officials say Harvilicz’s central role in overseeing the security of election systems and voting machines is of particular concern at a time when the administration is take unprecedented measures to revive Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. This includes the FBI’s seizure of 2020 voting records in Fulton County, Georgia, and the presence of a team working for Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, take custody of 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 Danielle Lang, vice president for voting rights and rule of law at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization. “Putting someone with this experience at the helm of policies affecting election security can undermine public confidence in our elections at a time when trust is already fragile. »
DHS did not respond to detailed questions about Harvilicz or his team, providing a more general statement about the work the agency does. “DHS and its employees are working to ensure the security and freedom of our elections,” he said. “Every day, Department of Homeland Security appointees work to implement the President’s policies and keep our country safe. »
Harvilicz did not respond to questions about his role at DHS. Harvilicz’s (These temporary missions are generally done in 120 day increments.)
Harvilicz was appointed to the DHS post around Julytaking on a role that in the past has largely focused on developing policies to protect the nation. critical infrastructureincluding its electoral systems.
But current and former DHS officials say Harvilicz and his team have transformed their roles to become more hands-on. They have been deeply engaged in facilitating the administration’s multiple data collection efforts aimed at scouring voter rolls for noncitizens, the officials said. ProPublica reported on one such effort, which led to hundreds of citizens being falsely flagged as potential non-citizens.
Harvilicz’s team includes Heather Honey, the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity. ProPublica reported that Honey was previously a leader of the Election Integrity Networka conservative group that has challenged the legitimacy of America’s electoral systems. Honey worked closely with network lead Cleta Mitchell, who played a leading role in helping Trump trying to overturn his 2020 defeat.
Also reporting directly to Harvilicz, Samantha Anderson, a data specialist WHO previously worked to elect Trump through the advocacy arm of the America First Policy Institutea think tank closely associated with the president.
Several election officials and experts said they were concerned that Harvilicz and Honey would play a significant role in assessing and describing the cybersecurity of the upcoming election, both to the public and to administration leaders. They also expressed concern that if Trump wanted to regain control of voting machines again after the election, perhaps if Republicans lost seats in the midterms, Harvilicz would be ideally positioned to help them achieve that.
“It would be very easy for them to get the voting machines,” a current DHS official said, adding that they could “describe it however they want, if they don’t like the results.”
Harvilicz co-founded Tranquility AIwhich developed an artificial intelligence tool for law enforcement with Penrose, and is listed on its 2025 patents by developing its systems together.
Penrose, a former intelligence officer, played a leading role in the campaign to help Trump in his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election. ProPublica reported. Penrose also participated in several attempts to clandestinely seize voting machines, including in Michiganwhere prosecutors accused him of break in some of the machines. (Penrose was not charged in that case.) He appears to be an unindicted co-conspirator in the botched Georgia trial in which Trump was accused of conspiring to overturn the election results. according to the Washington Post.
Penrose did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
One of the alleged uses of Tranquility AI’s product is “electoral integrity“, according to the company’s website. He did not provide further details in response to a question from ProPublica.
Tranquility AI’s tools, which help law enforcement officers process data and assemble cases, to have been employed by the New Orleans district attorney and the the company says it has established a partnership with dozens of law enforcement agencies across the country. In July 2025, a major government IT contractor announced a partnership with Tranquility AI.
Harvilicz began his career working at law firms on Wall Street and in the technology sector. Then, in 2004, when he was 29, he embarked on a losing campaign for a Maryland congressional seat. After that, he helped lead a crowdfunding companyA film marketing companyA film production company who worked with former intelligence officers and several cybersecurity companies (including one in which he worked with Penrose). He also did a stint in the first Trump administrationas head of cybersecurity at the Department of Energy.
Before Harvilicz got the DHS job, Tranquility AI donated $100,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund through a newly formed nonprofit based in Harvilicz’s home address, according to The Intercept. In response to questions from The Intercept, Harvilicz said the donation was intended to help them meet with administration policymakers. The Intercept first reported his ties to Penrose in connection with the donation.
Harvilicz posted prolifically on social media, sharing hundreds of posts with conservative content. After Trump won a second presidential term, he wrote: “We will now dismantle the quasi-communist takeover of America and make it great again.”
In 2020, Harvilicz purchased a $3.3 million home outside of Los Angeles.
After the Palisades fire destroyed it at the start of Trump’s second term, Harvilicz stood on the side of the road to greet the president visiting the disaster area with his young son on his shoulders. His son held up a photo of a bloodied Trump punching the air after surviving an assassin’s bullet.
Even then, the election was not far from his mind. He told a Los Angeles Times reporter that he supports Trump conditioning disaster aid on the Democratic state’s implementation of voter ID.
“I hope he saw us,” Harvilicz told the Times reporter.