DHS secretary vows to refocus CISA, saying it strayed from mission

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday said the Trump administration remains committed to combating cyber threats and protecting the nation but warned of changes at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to redirect the agency toward its core responsibilities. 

The administration will continue to go after malicious hackers and focus on building resilience among critical infrastructure operators and small businesses, Noem said in a keynote address at the annual RSAC Conference in San Francisco. But she also criticized CISA for straying beyond its remit in recent years and vowed to put a stop to those activities.

“We need to put CISA back on mission,” Noem said. “Many times CISA is doing important work, but we also saw them get into areas that were not why they were created.”

Noem’s last-minute appearance at RSAC came as the cybersecurity community remains deeply concerned about widespread job cuts and resignations at CISA and broader national security policy changes. 

Noem said the agency is fully aware of the threat posed by Chinese hackers who are increasingly targeting small businesses, local governments and other under-resourced organizations as part of a larger effort to disrupt U.S. infrastructure and steal American companies’ trade secrets.

Noem also offered a surprising endorsement of the Biden administration’s secure-by-design initiative, saying the Trump team would continue pushing companies to develop more secure technology. She said DHS planned to use its purchasing power “to demand that we have secure products on the market” and make related procurement recommendations to state and local governments.

“We’re not going to be paying for security add-ons that should have been in the software to begin with,” Noem said. 

The Trump administration is also focused on reducing regulatory and information-sharing burdens on the private sector and pushing more responsibility for boosting cyber resilience to the state and local level. 

Noem warned that the federal government will not solve every problem. 

“The federal government is here to support [states] and to provide for the nation’s defense,” she said, “and Washington, D.C., does not have all of the answers.”

Conservatives railed against CISA during the Biden administration as it worked with tech companies to combat disinformation. Even before that, Trump fired then CISA director Chris Krebs in November 2020, after Krebs declared that that year’s presidential election had been secure. 

In early April, Trump ordered an investigation of Krebs, leading to his resignation from SentinelOne. 

The administration earlier this year launched a major effort to eliminate jobs at CISA. It fired probationary workers, ended contracts with private firms and launched an effort to cut a large percentage of its workforce through various incentives. The moves have led to the departures of some of CISA’s most experienced and respected employees, including senior advisers Bob Lord and Lauren Zabierek.

CISA’s industry partners hope the agency remains a valuable resource for them. Scott Algiers, executive director of the Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center, said the group still engages with CISA on a number of issues and continues to get threat intelligence from the agency.

“We look forward to continuing to work with them on our mutual goal of increasing cybersecurity across the IT Sector and the larger critical infrastructure community,” Algiers told Cybersecurity Dive via email.