US lawmakers say CISA cuts raise ‘serious concerns about the agency's ability to fulfil its mission’

US lawmakers are pushing back against the Trump administration's decision to reduce headcount at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Five Democrats have written to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), calling on it to look into the effects of the cuts on the agency's ability to protect critical infrastructure and respond to evolving cyber threats.

The group has requested an investigation into how CISA’s workforce has changed over the past five years, including its size, composition, geographic distribution and number of contractors.

They also want the GAO to identify which programs have been affected by the cuts, what the effects have been, what data CISA collects and analyzes for workforce planning and whether it uses that data to align resources with agency priorities.

"At precisely the moment when our adversaries are accelerating attacks against critical infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the nation's lead civilian cyber defense agency, has lost nearly one-third of its workforce, raising serious concerns about the agency's ability to fulfil its mission," they wrote.

"Little is known about the impact of these workforce reductions on CISA’s programs and services or what processes and plans the agency has in place to ensure the agency is hiring the right people to address lost skill sets and meet mission demands."

CISA cuts run deep

The latest changes were announced in June as part of the 2027 budget proposal. CISA is set for a cut in funding of around $700 million - with the White House claiming that it's been functioning “as a hub in the Censorship Industrial Complex, conspiring against the First Amendment rights”.

The cuts would refocus CISA on its core mission – Federal network defense and coordinating with critical infrastructure partners – while eliminating waste by consolidating redundant security advisors and programs. Around 900 jobs are expected to go.

CISA lost nearly 1,000 employees, or about a third of its workforce, in the first half of 2025 - although the agency has since made moves to try and boost staffing again.

It's also seen cutbacks to its work on election security. And all this has come as its work has expanded more than ever, thanks to an accelerating threat environment.

Gene Moody, field CTO at Action1, said the cuts show a lack of awareness over the critical work conducted by the agency.

"In many respects, vulnerability analysis is further behind the curve than it has ever been. And it is being attacked by its own governing bodies out of ignorance and misunderstanding. This is an existential threat to cybersecurity," Moody commented.

"When analysts and programs are overloaded, the ecosystem gets noisier: important vulnerabilities compete with an enormous amount of lower-value information, prioritization becomes harder, and defenders have less confidence about what actually deserves immediate attention."

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