As the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) prepares to make cuts to its workforce, the agency needs to brief Congress on those decisions and their impact, according to a top House Democrat on security issues.
In a letter to CISA Acting Director Bridget Bean sent April 10, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, said that CISA must loop in Congress on decisions that could affect the agency’s operations.
The letter follows reports that the Trump administration plans to slash CISA’s workforce by nearly 40 percent and a letter sent by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to department employees urging them to quit their jobs, according to Rep. Swalwell’s letter.
“It is difficult to convey in writing the full extent of my concern regarding the rumored plans to decimate CISA, but it suffices to say that upending an agency that plays such an important role in defending the homeland while keeping Congress in the dark is wholly unacceptable,” wrote Rep. Swalwell.
“At no point has CISA provided the Subcommittee any justification for the drastic reorganization that is apparently well underway, nor has it explained how CISA will execute its congressionally mandated mission with a fraction of the workforce and resources,” he continued.
The ranking member said that cuts could impact CISA’s ability to threat hunt, manage vulnerabilities, and provide election security help to state and local governments.
So far, 130 probationary employees at CISA have been cut and are in the process of being reinstated – until a recent appeals court ruling overturned a lower court decision that had ordered their reinstatement.
Top ranking Republicans on the subcommittee have said that CISA isn’t going anywhere, but that they want the agency back on track in meeting its core mission of protecting infrastructure.
“We’re not doing away with CISA … I don’t see that happening if they play a pivotal role – but getting them back [to] their core mission of protecting the infrastructure especially is important,” Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., chairman of the full panel, said earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., the subcommittee chair, said that he was “not thrilled” with recent cuts at the agency.