LAS VEGAS—Is narrowing the scope of federal cyber defense making the country safer? A Trump‑appointed official and a former National Security Agency cybersecurity chief offered contrasting views at the Black Hat conference here on Tuesday.
Marci McCarthy, who oversees public affairs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the agency is refocusing on its “core mission” as its footprint and workforce is scaled back.
But Rob Joyce, who led the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity division, argued that trimming those federal cyber functions risks leaving the U.S. exposed amid intensifying efforts by nation‑state hackers and cybercriminals.
Almost one-third of the CISA’s workforce has left or been laid off since the Trump administration began, driven by a combination of buyout offers, early retirements, and reductions in force. The departures stem from DOGE-fueled restructuring efforts, as well as political backlash that intensified after the 2020 election, when CISA was targeted by Trump allies who levied false claims about election fraud and social-media censorship.
McCarthy and Joyce were seated next to one another on the discussion panel, joined by two financial-industry executives.
Asked how CISA’s smaller workforce would handle their responsibilities, McCarthy said that “national security is cybersecurity” and that the agency is “going back to the basics” while also “moving forward” to address evolving needs of critical infrastructure owners and operators.
She also highlighted a recent $100 million notice of funding opportunity connected to the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program, both of which aim to help cover the costs of bolstering cyberdefenses in state, local, tribal and territorial governments across the country.
Joyce sees it differently.
“I really think we’ve backslid,” he said. “We didn’t just lose the top layer of government, we lost operational capability across any number of departments and agencies. I don’t care how you slice it, we’ve lost capability. And so that loss of capability, it means relationships that aren’t in and known, but also just the technical expertise to dive in on some of these hard problems.”
He added, “And, you know, I will really offer — we weren’t everything we needed to be before that loss. And so now that’s slid down the hill, it gives me great concern.”
A swath of divisional and regional leaders across CISA have departed in recent months, as the White House seeks to drive CISA back to what Trump officials view as its core mission set that focuses solely on defending both critical infrastructure sectors and federal government networks from digital and physical threats.
Beyond CISA, numerous U.S. intelligence agencies have been targeted for reductions. Spy offices like the NSA possess numerous hacking, eavesdropping and surveillance capabilities, and their findings frequently complement advisories and papers issued by CISA.
“I think that the number-one thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to restore the capacity and capability in the government,” Joyce later said. “I do think we need to have an intelligent conversation about regulation” in the cybersecurity sector.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and leading into election season, CISA had regular contact with social media platforms to inform them of mis- or disinformation-laced content, crafted or amplified by foreign adversaries and home-grown entities. But the agency began chilling its own communications after a July 2023 Missouri-originated lawsuit alleged that the Biden administration’s efforts to flag disinformation violated First Amendment rights and suppressed politically conservative voices.
In 2020, President Donald Trump falsely claimed the election that year was rigged and stolen from him. After former CISA director Chris Krebs said the election was the “most secure in American history,” the president fired him. Krebs, as well as his former private-sector employer, have since been targeted by the second Trump administration.
Three weeks after Trump took office for a second time, CISA halted its efforts to secure U.S. elections.
Just last week, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll rescinded a U.S. Military Academy at West Point job offer extended to former CISA director Jen Easterly, who served under then-President Joe Biden. The move came after far-right activist Laura Loomer cast her as part of a network of officials she accused of working against Trump.
Asked what this targeting of Krebs and Easterly says about the Trump administration’s openness to dissenting views from former officials, McCarthy said, “That would be a question for President Trump.”
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