The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is facing another round of deep budget cuts. According to the fiscal year 2027 budget proposal submitted by President Trump, the administration plans to slash the agency's annual spending by $707 million.
During the first year of Trump’s second term, CISA already saw its funding reduced by millions of dollars and its workforce cut by nearly a third, amounting to approximately 1,000 employees. The new proposal explicitly states that the goal of these cuts is to "refocus CISA on its core mission."
Eliminating Controversial Functions
In the proposal, the White House accuses CISA of being "too focused on censorship rather than protecting the nation’s critical systems," while also criticizing the agency for mismanagement, inefficiency, and excessive self-promotion. The Trump administration plans to streamline the agency by eliminating functions that overlap with existing state and federal programs, including certain campus security initiatives.
Furthermore, the proposal explicitly calls for the termination of programs related to so-called "misinformation" and "propaganda," while demanding the closure of external engagement offices, such as those handling council management, stakeholder engagement, and international affairs. The White House claims in the document that these departments have served as key hubs for a "censorship industrial complex," in violation of the First Amendment.
Since President Trump took office, CISA’s efforts to combat online disinformation have been a lightning rod for controversy. Trump himself and former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have repeatedly criticized the agency’s actions regarding election security and responses to foreign cyber interference, particularly concerning debates over the 2020 presidential election results.
A former CISA official told the media that if the cuts are approved by Congress, the consequences would be severe. He warned: "This will weaken the systems that manage cyber risk and increase the likelihood of preventable incidents escalating into disruptions of the critical infrastructure and services that the American public relies on for their daily lives."
In fact, the restructuring of CISA has been underway since the start of Trump’s second term. On his first day in office, Trump ordered the dissolution of the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), which had been responsible for investigating the Chinese hacking group "Salt Typhoon" and its attacks on U.S. government and telecommunications networks. Subsequently, all advisory committees reporting to the agency were also disbanded.
The budget proposal has now been submitted to Congress for review. Last year, the Trump administration proposed a $491 million cut to CISA, but Congress ultimately approved a reduction of only about $135 million. Whether this $707 million plan will pass remains subject to further legislative maneuvering.
