Senators question Noem about CISA cuts, but get few details

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declined to provide specifics on what would be removed from the nation’s leading cybersecurity agency in light of the Trump administration’s proposed $491 million budget cut to the organization. 

Multiple U.S. senators pressed Noem on Tuesday during a Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing for more details on how exactly the department plans to find nearly $500 million worth of cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Noem stuck to answers she has given in previous hearings and speeches, focusing on Trump administration efforts to remove CISA offices that focus on Russian and Chinese disinformation and misinformation campaigns. 

“Getting rid of censorship, getting rid of the Ministry of Truth at CISA, the employees that were duplicative, that were fulfilling roles that wasn't related to cybersecurity was something that we addressed, I would say, under the President's budget,” Noem told committee ranking member Gary Peters (D-MI) .

Noem’s response mirrors the brief note on CISA in the White House budget request for fiscal year 2026, which similarly references removing “duplicative” offices and programs that the Trump administration believes already exist in other state and federal offices. 

The rest of the budget note focuses on the Trump administration effort to remove CISA’s role in stopping foreign disinformation campaigns, arguing that these “programs and offices were used as a hub in the Censorship Industrial Complex to violate the First Amendment, target Americans for protected speech, and target the President.” 

“CISA was more focused on censorship than on protecting the Nation’s critical systems, and put them at risk due to poor management and inefficiency, as well as a focus on self-promotion,” the White House budget request says. 

When pressed again during the hearing by Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) about what exactly would be cut at CISA, Noem repeated that her goal was to put CISA “back on mission.”

A DHS spokesperson told Recorded Future News after the hearing that “putting it back on mission means it fulfills the responsibility of why it was created.” 

“That is to be the cybersecurity agency of the nation,” the spokesperson said. “To secure our critical infrastructure, work with small and medium sized businesses and states and localities to give them the insight and wisdom they need to make sure that they are not vulnerable to hackers or nefarious activity."