1000 jobs gone – Is the US government cutting cybersecurity?

It has been clear for some time that the US government is tinkering with cybersecurity. Job cuts have also been announced. Now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has presented its budget for the coming year: Almost half a billion dollars is to be saved by the cybersecurity agency CISA in 2026.

The savings are noticeable: CISA's budget will fall from 2.8 to just under 2.4 billion dollars, a reduction of around 17 percent. This is according to the budget overview that the agency presented to the US Congress. Over 95 million, US dollars are to be saved in personnel costs alone – by cutting over 1000 jobs, among other things. External consultants are also likely to receive fewer orders from CISA in the future: The budget item “Consulting and support services” will fall by 289 million to still 1.3 billion US dollars.

Job cuts also affect cybersecurity

CISA is cutting 186 jobs in cybersecurity and saving over 216 million US dollars, and an additional ten jobs in infrastructure security. However, this area will receive a budget increase of 143 million dollars in 2026 and will therefore be strengthened financially. This was ordered by Homeland Security Minister Noem: Let there be more focus on protecting government networks and critical infrastructure.

315 positions are to be eliminated through a voluntary program that sweetens the farewell for CISA employees with severance payments, early retirement and other financial incentives. The second-largest cut relates to positions at the authority that have not been filled at all: CISA has so far been unable to find suitable candidates for over 300 vacant positions, and now they are being eliminated. The authority writes that this will enable efficient use of funds without any impact on operations.

Departments to be closed, DEI scrapped

The authority is closing several departments completely. This includes the 14-member election security team – unsurprisingly, given the US president's personal feud with former CISA chief Chris Krebs. Krebs had vehemently denied Trump's allegations of election fraud and lost his job as a result. There will also no longer be a department for infrastructure security in the chemical sector in 2026, although this was already decided in 2023 and is now being implemented.

The topic of “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion” (DEI) will also be eliminated – President Trump had decreed by decree that federal agencies must close their DEI departments. At CISA, this will cost 116 employees their jobs.

Former CISA head Easterly had already criticized the restructuring of the agency in March. Her fears appear to be coming true: The agency is suffering from a massive loss of managers. This is likely to be linked to the planned cuts.

However, acting CISA chief Bean believes the agency is still well positioned: “We have the right team in place to fulfill this mission [as a cybersecurity agency, editor's note] and ensure that we are prepared for a range of cyber threats from our adversaries.” Nevertheless, critics wonder whether the government is cutting CISA to the bone.

(cku)