Don’t let DOGE destroy CISA

Cybersecurity is the frontline of our national security. President Donald Trump and his adviser, Elon Musk, are doing more damage to our cyber defenses than Moscow or Beijing have done in decades. They are taking our defense off the field and hoping our enemies don’t take a shot at the end zone. They are wrong, and we are going to get attacked. When we do, Trump will be responsible.  

We cannot allow these maniacs to dismantle our protections against cyberattacks. Efficiency cannot come at the cost of security. But DOGE does not care about security. It cares about destruction. 

Every year, the Director of National Intelligence tells us that China and Russia are using their cyber arsenals to attack America in an attempt to cripple our critical infrastructure. Last year, the Chinese group Salt Typhoon was successful in breaking into government networks and spying on senior government officials. With our cyber defenders on the sidelines thanks to DOGE, hacks like that will be more common and more destructive. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is on the front lines of defending federal networks, state and local governments, and critical infrastructure against these malicious  state threats. Unfortunately, DOGE has descended upon CISA, and it’s unclear what will be left  when the dust settles. 

Like many Americans, I had high hopes for new efficiencies DOGE might find. Over my two decades of public service, my top priority has been to make the government work better, be more effective, more efficient, and more accessible. In the case of CISA, I had hoped DOGE could accelerate the adoption and implementation of better security technologies. But DOGE isn’t about  efficiency; it’s about destruction.  

DOGE’s assault on CISA began almost immediately after Trump took office, starting with the federal  workforce. Even the government’s most sought-after cyber warriors were not spared. Within a week of Inauguration Day, DOGE sent all federal employees insulting emails urging them to quit “low productivity” jobs and find “high productivity” jobs in the private sector. As far as CISA is concerned, this trope flies in the face of a decades-long, bipartisan effort to attract cyber talent to the federal government, which has historically struggled to attract and retain top-tier cyber  professionals.  

CISA’s employees were initially told they were ineligible to take the so-called “Fork in the  Road” offer, only to be told days later that they were eligible. Just two weeks later, DOGE terminated approximately 130 probationary employees at CISA, many of whom had been hired within the past two years to build the agency’s expertise on emerging threats. 

One terminated employee was leading CISA’s investigation into Salt Typhoon. Another led CISA’s CyberSentry program, which provides critical  insights into malicious activity happening on industrial control systems. Between the  deferred resignations and the probationary firings, CISA also lost a top expert on open-source  supply chain security.

These are our nation’s best defenders. They are the Draymond Greens of cybersecurity. But Coach Musk isn’t just putting them on the bench. He is cancelling their contracts and retiring them from the league. 

Many of my colleagues in Congress were relieved when a federal judge ordered CISA to reinstate its terminated employees, but that victory was short-lived. The employees who managed to get reinstated were immediately put on administrative leave, and other illegally terminated employees have struggled to get reinstated in the first place. That means that taxpayers are paying high-skilled talent to stay home instead of working to defend our nation. Paying top talent to sit on the sideline is anything but efficient. DOGE must answer for taking our defense off the  field.  

In addition to bulldozing the federal workforce, DOGE is taking a chainsaw to CISA’s contract support. In mid-March, reports emerged that CISA slashed contracts that supported red teams — the “white-hat” hackers who test vulnerable systems and recommend security fixes to help keep the bad guys out. Reports later emerged that CISA cut $10 million in funding for the Multi-State Information and Security Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which provides critical cybersecurity support services for state and local governments. CISA has supported these resources for its critical infrastructure and state and local partners because they play an essential role in keeping them secure and resilient. The threats haven’t gone away but DOGE is benching our best defenders.  

It’s worth noting that CISA’s mission isn’t limited to cybersecurity, and DOGE’s plans for its non-cyber workforce and the programs they support are similarly unclear. CISA’s physical  infrastructure security work includes support to chemical facilities, the Office for Bombing  Prevention, and the School Safety program, which evolved largely in response to the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. Without any action on legislation to reduce school shootings, CISA’s programs aimed at helping schools put in place defensive measures and emergency response plans are among the limited tools we have to keep kids safe. The fate of these programs to protect kids in schools shouldn’t rest in Musk’s hands.  

CISA has not provided detailed information on the full extent of DOGE’s attacks on the agency, about the probationary employees it terminated, or the employees who accepted the “Fork in the Road” offer. Congress, CISA’s non-federal partners, and the public are in the dark as to the full extent of DOGE’s dismantling of CISA. Our best cyber warriors are under attack from within when we need them most.  

Making sure the critical infrastructure Americans rely on is secure and resilient has always been a  bipartisan priority, and it should stay that way. My Republican colleagues must join me in urging the Trump administration to spare CISA from the DOGE wrecking ball. 

Democrats stand ready to work with Republicans in Congress to ensure that CISA continues to be an effective front-line defense against our adversaries’ attacks. That starts with kicking DOGE out of CISA and protecting our cyber workforce from Trump’s strip-mining of the federal workforce. Efficiency cannot come at the cost of safety.

I am using my position as the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee to keep the pressure on DOGE to keep its hands off CISA. The committee cannot take its eye off the ball, and I will always be a loud advocate for CISA’s workforce. I will not stop until we know that our cyber  defenses are back up to the task of protecting us from cyberattacks.  

If we fail to stop Musk’s rampage through the federal government, we are inviting an attack. Taking our defense off the field with our enemies on the 10-yard line is a recipe for disaster. We  are going to get attacked, and Trump will be responsible.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection.