The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has long served as a critical resource for both public and private sector organizations. Offering everything from cyber and physical security assessments to incident response, training, and threat briefings. But now, the agency itself is under pressure.
In recent months, CISA has faced a wave of cuts, part of broader cost-reduction efforts under the Trump administration. While the full extent of layoffs remains unclear, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that more than 130 positions have already been eliminated. And sources suggest hundreds more may be impacted. According to its 2025 budget overview, CISA previously employed about 3,200 people.
These staffing reductions could pose major challenges for state and local governments, small enterprises. And critical infrastructure providers who’ve long depended on CISA’s expertise and direct support. Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt voiced concern during a recent election security roundtable. Warning that the state may struggle to maintain protections for elections without the federal agency’s backing.
So what happens next? And where can organizations turn as federal cybersecurity support scales back?
Nitin Natarajan, former deputy director at CISA, believes that while public sector cuts are concerning. The broader cybersecurity community is already stepping in. “We’ve seen academic programs and private firms offer reduced-cost services to help bolster cyber resilience,” he says. Some states have also formed internal teams to support small and mid-sized businesses, especially in critical infrastructure sectors.
But Natarajan points out a major challenge. Many smaller organizations simply don’t have the budget to access these commercial tools or services. Without federal help, their defenses could weaken against increasingly sophisticated threats.
Brandon Wales, also a former CISA executive and now VP at SentinelOne, sees this as a moment of opportunity. “The U.S. has a dynamic cybersecurity industry with deep expertise,” he notes. Should CISA’s services decline, private sector companies are well-positioned to step in and fill those gaps—if organizations are willing and able to engage them.
For companies that have relied heavily on CISA, the downsizing is a wake-up call to reassess their cybersecurity partnerships. Austin Berglas, a former FBI cyber chief and now head of professional services at BlueVoyant, warns that the federal government has never had the bandwidth to fully support private enterprise security needs.
“Even before these cuts, most organizations couldn’t count on government agencies for day-to-day protection,” says Berglas. “Now more than ever, businesses should turn to managed security services, consulting firms, and threat intelligence providers to strengthen their posture.”
He advises reviewing all existing third-party relationships, especially as more firms specialize in everything from offensive security to threat detection, third-party risk, and virtual CISO services—making enterprise-grade protection more accessible across budgets.
Riaz Lakhani, CISO at Barracuda, says that as federal funding thins out, state and local governments must shift their strategies. He recommends leveraging Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs) for support, while also pushing for budget reallocations to cover private cybersecurity resources.
For the private sector, Lakhani emphasizes the need to invest in actionable threat intelligence and to build the internal muscle needed to interpret and act on that data. “Train your teams to assess threat feeds critically and learn from other companies’ incidents,” he says. “It’s about turning every breach—yours or someone else’s—into a learning moment.”
Jake Williams, VP of R&D at Hunter Strategy and former NSA hacker, doesn’t put much faith in traditional ISACs. With many smaller organizations dropping out due to the loss of DHS grant funding, ISAC memberships are thinning, and the intelligence shared may become more limited.
Instead, Williams sees a clear opportunity: “This is the time for larger organizations to double down on building in-house cyber threat intelligence (CTI) teams.” While not every company can afford this, those that can should invest in their own collection and analysis capabilities—especially in an era when even private CTI providers may face pressure to censor sensitive intelligence.
Whether you’re a state government or a midsize business, the message is clear: federal cybersecurity support is shrinking. And resilience now depends on your ability to adapt. That means evaluating commercial tools, revisiting security budgets, enhancing threat intelligence programs, and building deeper partnerships with trusted vendors.
While CISA’s downsizing is a blow, it also serves as a reminder that security is a shared responsibility. And the time to take action is now.
