In addition, the administration’s budget expects CISA’s other spending outlays to drop by $535 million, or 20%. On the other hand, according to the budget, the much smaller Cyber Director’s budget should decrease by 10%, while personnel levels will stay level at 85 full-time equivalent employees.
In addition to their own budget cuts, both officials will have to grapple with the fallout from reduced cyber functions across the entire federal government, from the NSA to the FBI. The FBI has recently been forced to divert resources from cybersecurity to handling immigration and border control issues.
“This administration has decided to disinvest in cybersecurity and to do so in a way that is particularly damaging to the workforce,” Michael Daniel, president and CEO of the Cyber Threat Alliance, told CSO. “That’s being mirrored across the government. A lot of other agencies are also facing reductions.”