- Many of CISA’s senior leaders are leaving the agency, memo claims
- The organization is currently facing its third staff reduction of 2025
- There are worries about how the agency will perform going forward
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is reportedly experiencing a serious flight of senior personnel, with most planning to leave by the end of May 2025.
CISA is responsible for safeguarding US critical infrastructure, and its senior personnel are critical in the agency’s ability to liaise with its strategic partners, other federal agencies, and international security organizations.
The sudden exodus in senior leadership across five of CISA’s six operational divisions and six of its 10 regional offices comes as the agency faces its third workforce reduction this year.
CISA loses leadership
A statement issued by CISA’s executive director, Bridget Bean, said, “CISA is doubling down and fulfilling its statutory mission to secure the nation’s critical infrastructure and strengthen our collective cyber defense. We were created to be the cybersecurity agency for the nation, and we have the right team in place to fulfill that mission and ensure that we are prepared for a range of cyber threats from our adversaries.”
While the remaining CISA leadership may be putting on a brave face, a number of CISA employees who spoke to Cybersecurity Dive shared reservations about the agency’s future and performance following the departure of senior leadership.
One employee, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said, “With these significant number of senior departures, several of which are leaders who have been here since the days of US-CERT, there’s a lot of anxiety around when the cuts and departures will finally stop and we can move forward as an agency.”
A second employee, also speaking anonymously, said, “It feels like the wrong people are leaving. All of these departures make it feel like people are leaving the mission and creating a vacuum.”
For CISA’s operational divisions, acting head of the Infrastructure Security Division Steve Harris left on May 16, acting head of the Stakeholder Engagement Division Trent Frazier left on May 2, No. 2 official in the Emergency Communications Division Vince Delaurentis is due to leave on May 30. These follow the previous departures of No. 2 official in the Cybersecurity Division Matt Hartman, and head of the Integrated Operations Division Boyden Rohner.
Recent and upcoming regional office departures include Region 2 Director John Durkin, Region 4 Director Jay Gamble, Region 5 Director Alex Joves and Deputy Director Kathy Young, Region 6 Director Rob Russell, Region 7 Director Phil Kirk, and Region 10 Director Patrick Massey.