Trump wants to slash $707M from CISA’s budget • The Register
Trump wants to slash $707M from CISA’s budget • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/03/trump_cisa_budget/
Publish Date: 2026-04-03 18:41:00
Source Domain: www.theregister.com
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s budget will see yet another deep cut if Congress approves President Trump’s proposal to slash CISA’s spending by $707 million in fiscal year 2027.
America’s lead cyber-defense agency already lost millions in funding and about a third of its workforce (close to 1,000 people) during the first year of Trump’s second term. According to the president’s proposed budget [PDF], the spending plan “refocuses CISA on its core mission.”
Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget wanted to chop about $491 million from CISA’s spending, although Congress ultimately approved a reduction of about $135 million [PDF].
CISA, according to Trump’s Friday proposal, is “more focused on censorship than on protecting the Nation’s critical systems, and put them at risk due to poor management and inefficiency, as well as a focus on self-promotion.”
This same language was used in the president’s 2026 spending plan for CISA – and in messaging favored by now-ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Department of Homeland Security oversees CISA.
Both Noem and Trump frequently criticized CISA’s efforts to counter online disinformation, especially as they relate to election security and preventing foreign trolls – and the president himself – from spreading lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen on behalf of Joe Biden.
If enacted, this would weaken the system for managing cyber risk, increasing the likelihood that preventable incidents escalate into disruptions affecting critical infrastructure and the services Americans depend on
Trump’s 2027 spending plan says it will “refocus” CISA by “removing offices that are duplicative of existing and effective programs at the State and Federal level, such as certain targeted school safety programs.”
It would also eliminate “programs focused on so-called…
