Less than a decade ago, President Trump helped set up CISA in order to protect US companies in cyberspace. Today, his White House appears intent on shutting it down.
President Donald Trump has called for a defense budget of $1.5 trillion for fiscal year 2027 (FY27), the largest in the nation’s history. That money could fund large-scale projects, including the “Golden Dome” missile defense system and a “Golden Fleet” for the US Navy. Yet even as the Pentagon could see a nearly 50 percent budget increase, another agency could see its funding cut substantially.
In a budget proposal released by the Office of Management and Budget on Friday, April 3, the White House proposed cutting funding to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) by $707 million. That might not seem significant, but CISA has already seen its workforce downsized by nearly one-third and has faced budget cuts in the past.
CISA Isn’t a Priority for the Trump Administration
It is unclear why the Trump administration has seen a clear need to increase the defense budget in the name of national security, yet it is cutting the CISA budget.
The White House’s 2026 budget sought to cut about $491 million from CISA spending—yet Congress only approved around $135 million in reductions.
This new proposal will likewise require approval from Congress, where funding levels and program priorities may be revised as part of the appropriations process.
The FY2027 budget proposal ties CISA to a refocus away from weaponization and waste, which tracks with a lot of this administration’s stated priorities for the term,” explained Aaron Colclough, VP of operations at cybersecurity provider Suzu Labs.
“The examples in the text stay high-level, so it is still unclear what exactly would be cut; nothing maps dollars to line items,” Colclough told The National Interest in an email. “That vagueness overlaps with functions or offices that were already reduced, so we’re not in a position to say what is net-new from the wording alone. This looks like the president’s usual high opening bid before Congress settles the real numbers.”
CISA Protects What Americans Don’t See
Trump’s decision to slash the CISA budget is especially odd given that the agency was established in November 2018 during his first term.
At that time, Congress passed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act, creating CISA as an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), in order to better address nation-state and cybercriminal threats.
The NPPD had faced criticism regarding its focus and authority. CISA further broadened its scope to include election security, oversight of artificial intelligence (AI) security, and the protection of critical sectors such as water and wastewater.
“When CISA was created in 2018, it was built on a recognition that cybersecurity is a shared problem that no single organization can solve alone,” added Doc McConnell, head of policy and compliance at cybersecurity provider Finite State.
McConnell told The National Interest that CISA’s value lies in the “connective tissue it creates,” as well as its ability to provide early warning of emerging threats, coordinated vulnerability assessment, and remediation. It has partnerships with state and local governments and critical infrastructure operators that bolster national resilience.
“The proposed $707 million reduction to CISA signals a retreat from the public-private partnership model, effectively ending the agency’s role as a primary intelligence collaborator for the commercial sector,” said John Carberry, chief marketing officer at Xcape, Inc.
“By eliminating the Stakeholder Engagement Division and the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), the administration is forcing enterprise security teams to manage nation-state threats without a centralized federal clearinghouse,” Carberry told The National Interest. “This shift places the entire burden of national collective defense onto individual firms at a time of unprecedented geopolitical volatility.”
CISA’s Mission Is More Urgent Than Ever
The cuts to CISA come as there are warnings that Russia has been supplying Iran with cyber support, and Tehran continues to target US energy infrastructure.
In other words, Trump can promise to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Age”—but without the work of CISA, Tehran could hack US critical infrastructure and leave Americans in the dark just as easily!
If CISA were not around to protect American infrastructure adequately, the private sector could be left to fend for itself. Indeed, this may be the most practical solution, if the agency’s ability to fight cyberthreats is further degraded.
Carberry suggested that security leaders must immediately de-risk their dependency on CISA for threat telemetry and sector-specific alerts, instead prioritizing deeper involvement in private Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) and direct vendor partnerships.
“Since CISA will pivot its remaining resources almost exclusively toward federal network defense, organizations should also prepare for more aggressive compliance enforcement on federal contractors rather than collaborative support,” Carberry said. “It turns out ‘Shields Up’ was a limited-time offer.”
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
