CISA division layoffs threaten federal cyber mandate

Almost all employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Stakeholder Engagement Division have been gutted following widespread layoffs last week, with sources noting the lack of any staff in the division's Council Management, Strategic Relations, and International Affairs units, which coordinate with U.S. critical infrastructure operators and agencies, small businesses and state and local governments, and other countries, respectively, by December, according to Cybersecurity Dive.

Only SED's Sector Management unit, which facilitates the agency's Sector Risk Management Agency oversight over half of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors, will remain operational by the end of the year, a development that Cyber Threat Alliance President and CEO Michael Daniel regards as limiting federal cybersecurity initiatives. Foreign cybersecurity partnerships will also take a toll from the removal of the SED's International Affairs unit.

"The loss of CISA's international partnership office will undoubtedly make strategic cybersecurity partnerships and agreements with other nations more challenging, with no one really focused on facilitating those engagements anymore," said a U.S. official.