- CISA staff being laid off in latest round of cuts
- Up to 176 employees are at risk of being laid off or reassigned
- Some employees are being transferred from CISA to ICE and are being told they must resign if they refuse.
The Trump administration continues to decimate public services and deprioritize cybersecurity, with the latest cuts coming to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), where reports claim that up to 176 employees have been laid off and more have been reassigned to other departments, including those of CISA.
During the federal government shutdown, only about 35% of CISA staff were authorized to work, but the reassignments will affect the department. In early 2025, the former NSA cybersecurity director warned that massive federal layoffs, including 130 from CISA, would have a “devastating impact on cybersecurity.”
“RIF [reductions in force] will happen at CISA,” a DHS spokesperson said The Registry. “During the last administration, CISA focused on censorship, branding and election campaigning. This is part of the goal of CISA returning to its mission.”
Mandatory reassignments
This is nowhere near the first workforce reduction in a key government department, with Elon Musk’s infamous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeting key software divisions, in addition to losing other top officials to resignations.
Recent reporting from Bloomberg confirmed that several cybersecurity employees had been forcibly reassigned to move manpower to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) teams. Those who refuse will be threatened with dismissal.
This means focusing less on threats against American infrastructure, despite a record number of attacks, including damaging, high-profile intrusions by foreign threat actors, and instead shifting priority to Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
These reassignments have reportedly had a particular impact on CISA’s Capability Development team, which is in charge of drafting offshore directives and cybersecurity for the government’s high-value assets.
This specifically affects senior staff, who have reportedly been given just one week to accept or resign, and are prohibited from joining unions because they work on national security issues, insiders have said.
Through The Registry
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