CISA’s Critical Partnership Division Dismantled in Major Cybersecurity Restructuring

Major Staff Reductions Eliminate Key Cybersecurity Partnership Functions

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has effectively dismantled its primary partnership division through sweeping layoffs that eliminated nearly all staff in the Stakeholder Engagement Division, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The cuts, which take effect in early December, will leave three of the division’s four units completely without staff, fundamentally reshaping how the agency interacts with critical infrastructure partners.

Major Staff Reductions Eliminate Key Cybersecurity Partnership Functions
Expert Reactions: “Dangerous Void” in National Security
Critical Infrastructure Impacts Across Multiple Sectors
International Cybersecurity Cooperation Grinds to Halt
Administration’s Rationale and Industry Response

The restructuring eliminates the Council Management unit, which facilitated meetings between government agencies and critical infrastructure operators; the Strategic Relations unit, which partnered with small businesses, academic institutions, and state and local governments; and the International Affairs unit, which coordinated cybersecurity cooperation with foreign nations. Only the small Sector Management unit will remain operational., as detailed analysis, according to according to reports

Expert Reactions: “Dangerous Void” in National Security

Michael Daniel, former cybersecurity adviser to President Obama and current head of the Cyber Threat Alliance, expressed grave concerns about the implications. “These reductions continue a pattern of weakening the US government’s ability to carry out its cybersecurity responsibilities and hindering its ability to interact with the private sector,” Daniel stated. He warned that the downsizing “runs the risk of leaving CISA blind to certain threats and trends and will also limit CISA’s ability to influence the private sector and communicate its priorities.”

Errol Weiss, chief security officer for the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center, described the cuts as creating “a dangerous void” in national security. “The health sector is one of the most targeted and vulnerable, and this is exactly the wrong time to be pulling back federal support,” Weiss emphasized.

Critical Infrastructure Impacts Across Multiple Sectors

The elimination of the Council Management staff threatens to sever crucial relationships between CISA and organizations responsible for protecting healthcare, energy, water, finance, and other vital sectors. These employees oversaw groups that brought together government and industry organizations, as well as committees that advised CISA leadership on emerging threats.

One anonymous natural gas industry executive expressed concern that the layoffs could “have negative impacts to our national security,” adding that “a fully functional and staffed CISA is essential to ensuring the continued operation of the key programs and initiatives that pipeline operators rely on to secure their systems.”

The cuts particularly affect support for high-level advisory groups like the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), which previously convened corporate executives and federal leaders for what officials described as uniquely productive conversations about collective cybersecurity resilience., according to industry experts

International Cybersecurity Cooperation Grinds to Halt

The elimination of the International Affairs team represents a significant retreat from global cybersecurity leadership. According to sources familiar with the matter, SED staffers were overseeing projects to train foreign government personnel and improve technological capabilities, including helping international partners build systems more resilient to cyberattacks.

“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 one U.S. official who requested anonymity.

Megan Stifel, chief strategy officer for the Institute for Security and Technology and former National Security Council staffer, noted that the cuts would impair the U.S. ability to enlist foreign help countering threats. “We can’t claim to be leaders internationally without a full bench of experts to help reduce risk across the government and our critical infrastructure.”

Administration’s Rationale and Industry Response

CISA declined to answer specific questions about the layoffs. Marci McCarthy, CISA’s director of public affairs, stated the cuts were “part of the ongoing realignment to get the agency back on mission” and emphasized that CISA “remains dedicated to safeguarding the nation’s critical infrastructure.”

The Trump administration’s budget proposal had previously signaled intentions to shrink the division’s responsibilities, describing the restructuring as shifting “CISA’s mission space to solely support the SRMA efforts and aligns with CISA’s priorities to strengthen critical infrastructure security while optimizing operational effectiveness.”

Industry reactions suggest the cuts came with minimal warning. A security executive in the oil and natural gas subsector told Cybersecurity Dive they didn’t know about the cuts until contacted for comment, stating, “I’m still trying to fathom this.” Similarly, Weiss said he hadn’t received any communication from CISA about the layoffs.

The dismantling of SED’s partnership functions represents a fundamental shift in how the federal government approaches critical infrastructure protection, potentially leaving vital sectors without the coordinated support mechanisms they’ve relied on for years.