CISA cyber partnerships face ‘standstill’ amid cuts
CISA cyber partnerships face ‘standstill’ amid cuts
Publish Date: 2026-04-29 17:57:00
Source Domain: federalnewsnetwork.com
Cyber experts say staff cuts and other changes at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have left CISA less ready to engage with the private sector on critical cyber issues, even as lawmakers eye new steps to address increasingly important sectors like space systems and data centers.
During a House Homeland Security cybersecurity and infrastructure protection subcommittee hearing Wednesday, witnesses focused primarily on CISA’s role carrying out sector risk management agency (SRMA) duties assigned to the Department of Homeland Security.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), the new ranking member of the cybersecurity subcommittee, pointed out that CISA has lost roughly one-third of its staff over the past year. CISA’s Stakeholder Engagement Division lost 96 of 189 staff since January 2025.
“It’s ironic to talk about modernizing DHS as a Sector Risk Management Agency when Trump has been on a vindictive campaign to dismantle CISA, the very agency he established but started attacking the minute it became an obstruction to his interest,” Ramirez said
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CISA’s fiscal 2027 budget request would further cut the Stakeholder Engagement Division to just 62 positions. The budget would eliminate the division’s Council Management offices, Stakeholder Engagement activities and offices, and the International Affairs external engagement offices.
“This change shifts CISA’s stakeholder engagement mission space to solely support the SRMA efforts and aligns with CISA’s priorities to strengthen critical infrastructure security while optimizing operational effectiveness,” CISA’s budget request states.
But Mark Montgomery, senior director and senior fellow at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, argued the Stakeholder Engagement Division’s work is crucial amid the cuts.
“Without the Stakeholder Engagement Division, you don’t…
