Smartmatic

IC reporting from 2004-2020 documented persistent concerns about Venezuelan government manipulation of electronic voting systems, including Smartmatic technology, and potential national-security implications for US election infrastructure (p.2).

The 2006 IC assessment that Smartmatic's ties to Venezuela posed a national-security threat led to US government action forcing Smartmatic to divest its US operations in 2007 (p.2).

The 2006 assessment judged Smartmatic's acquisition of US voting-systems company Sequoia posed a "moderate threat" to US national security (p.3).

Prior to Venezuela's 2012 presidential election, [REDACTED] reporting indicated Chavez's intelligence services — the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) and the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) — worked with the National Electoral Council (CNE) and Smartmatic to plan manipulation of results using preprogrammed voting machines (p.3).

The 2006 National Security Threat Assessment by the National Intelligence Council rated Smartmatic's acquisition of Sequoia Voting Systems a "moderate overall threat," citing Chavez's intent to influence US politics, reported Venezuelan election manipulation with Smartmatic's involvement, [REDACTED] intelligence that Smartmatic directors held Venezuelan intelligence credentials, open-source reporting of corrupt relationships, and Smartmatic/Sequoia contracts in approximately 400 US counties (p.4).

CFIUS pressure resulting from the assessment led Smartmatic to divest its ownership of Sequoia in 2007 (p.4).

In March 2018, Smartmatic ceased operations in Venezuela after publicly accusing the Maduro regime of inflating voter turnout by over one million votes in the August 2017 National Constituent Assembly election, figures that diverged from Smartmatic's machine data (p.4).

Analytic caveat: the 2006 IC assessment concluded neither Smartmatic nor the Venezuelan Government had the capability to manipulate an election outside Venezuela in a predictable fashion, because such manipulation rested on controlling every stage of the process (acquisition, security, programming, receipt storage, audit) — a spectrum of access unavailable outside Venezuela (p.5).