Trump Budget Plan to Cut Nearly 1000 Jobs at Cyber Agency CISA

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) could lose nearly 1000 employees and face a $495m budget cut under President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2026 proposal, drastically scaling back the agency’s workforce and scope of operations.

The plan, released last Friday, would reduce CISA’s staff from 3292 to 2324 positions and shrink its overall funding to $1.96bn. Significant reductions are aimed at programs related to disinformation, stakeholder engagement and risk management, according to the administration.

The White House said the cuts are intended to refocus CISA on defending federal networks and critical infrastructure while eliminating what it described as “weaponized rot.” 

It accused the agency of working with tech companies to “target free speech” and vowed to return it to what the administration considers its core mission.

Read more on cybersecurity workforce changes: Cybersecurity Workforce Gap Rises by 19% Amid Budget Pressures

Cuts to Key Programs

CISA’s Cybersecurity Division, which leads government network protection, would lose 18% of its current funding, while the Integrated Operations Division would be cut by 20%.

Additionally, the Stakeholder Engagement Division faces a 62% funding reduction, and the National Risk Management Center would lose 73% of its budget.

“The proposed $495m cut to CISA is a strategic deprecation of US cyber defense capability in a moment where threat actors are accelerating, not retreating,” said Gabrielle Hempel, a threat intelligence researcher at Exabeam.

“Gutting critical programs like the Stakeholder Engagement Division and National Risk Management Center doesn’t ‘refocus’ the mission – it hollows it out.”

“These teams drive cross-sector collaboration, provide threat modeling to CI operators and build resilience in a space where private-sector entities own the vast majority of the target surface,” Hempel said.

“If the intent of these cuts is to ‘focus on core mission,’ the question is: whose definition of core?”

“The proposed elimination of election security funding is also concerning,” she added.

“Pulling the plug on the nation’s technical lead for election integrity isn’t just disengaging; it’s giving tacit permission to interfere.”

Kevin Kirkwood, CISO at Exabeam, shares Hempel’s concerns. 

“CISA was created to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure,” he said. “That is something that many of us in the private sector have come to rely on.”

“Stop using the philosophy of ‘we don’t know what this is, so we will just cut it,’” Kirkwood said.

“Budgeting is truly a numbers game, but the numbers must tell the story.”

Congress will review the proposal and determine the final budget levels in the months ahead.