Trump administration planning major workforce cuts at CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is firming up plans to slash staffing and spending amid increased scrutiny from the White House, which is still chafing over what it sees as CISA’s role in suppressing conservative viewpoints.

The agency is looking to remove some 1,300 people by cutting about half its full-time staff and another 40 percent of its contractors, a source with direct knowledge of the developing plans told Recorded Future News. 

The agency’s National Risk Management Center (NRMC), which serves as a hub analyzing risks to cyber and critical infrastructure, is expected to see significant cuts, said two sources familiar with the plans. Some of the office’s systematic risk responsibilities will potentially be moved to the agency’s Cybersecurity Division, according to one of the sources.

Officials said that the distribution of cuts and who precisely will lose their jobs are still being decided. The Trump administration has changed course before decisions are final in the past, and the sources emphasized that the current discussions about what to eliminate could evolve.

A timetable for the announcement is also not yet set, they said. 

CBS News first reported that CISA planned to cut 1,300 employees. A spokesperson for CISA declined to comment. 

The move comes as President Donald Trump has ramped up scrutiny of CISA, which has come under fire from conservatives over the way that it has handled election interference and the spread of misinformation. On Wednesday, the president issued a memorandum that includes “a comprehensive evaluation of all of CISA’s activities over the last 6 years” and revoked the security clearances held by the agency’s first director, Chris Krebs.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has said he wants to eliminate the agency over what he’s called its censorship of conservative viewpoints.

In addition to the NRMC, CISA’s Stakeholder Engagement Division (SED), which coordinates how government agencies, private companies and nonprofits execute their roles protecting specific aspects of critical infrastructure, is also being eyed for cuts, according to two sources with knowledge of the current thinking. 

Also under discussion are changes to CISA’s regional offices. Among other things, the administration is considering making the directors of these offices political appointees, one source familiar with the discussions said.

The CISA threat hunting team will be cut but not eliminated, two sources familiar with the administration’s current plans said.

The Department of Homeland Security, where CISA is housed, recently expanded its voluntary departure program to include early retirement and, in some cases, a buyout, dangling a lump sum payment of up to $25,000 to employees in roles slated for voluntary departures, according to an April 7 memo seen by Recorded Future News. Employees have until Monday to decide whether to take the offer, the memo said. 

Separately, the nomination of Sean Plankey, who has been selected to run CISA, is being blocked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who announced yesterday that he will hold up the nomination until CISA releases a document detailing security flaws in the country’s telecommunications system.