This week, it was reported that the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is in dire straits after a year of cuts, layoffs, and furloughs under the Trump administration. The agency has now replaced its top deputy, a CISA spokesperson told TechCrunch.
After a tumultuous year at the head of CISA, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security that oversees cybersecurity and technological protection across the federal government, Madhu Gotumukkara will succeed Madhu Gotumukkara as acting director of CISA.
According to reports, Gottumukkala struggled to lead the agency during his time as acting director, causing security problems such as uploading classified government documents to ChatGPT. The agency's staff was reduced by one-third. Mr. Gottumukkala also reportedly suspended several career employees, including the agency's then-chief security officer, after they failed counterintelligence polygraph tests to view classified documents.
Before being named deputy director of CISA, Gottumukkala served as South Dakota's chief technology officer under then-governor and current Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
ABC News first reported Gottumukkala's departure.
In a statement shared with TechCrunch on Friday, CISA spokesperson Marcy McCarthy claimed that Gottumukkala had done an “amazing job.” McCarthy told TechCrunch that Gottumukkala will be replaced by Nick Andersen as the new acting director of CISA, and that Gottumukkala has been moved to a new post as director of strategy and implementation at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CISA.
Before being appointed acting director to lead CISA, Mr. Andersen served as the agency's top official overseeing the agency's cybersecurity division.
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The agency has yet to have a permanent Senate-confirmed director since Trump returned to office.
McCarthy said the Trump administration has selected Sean Plunky to be the agency's permanent director, but that requires approval by a majority of the U.S. Senate.
The White House renominated Plankey to head CISA in January after Sen. Ron Wyden blocked his nomination last year, but his nomination was blocked until the agency agreed to release a non-classified report that purportedly documented cybersecurity shortcomings at the telecom giant. Wyden called for the report's release following hundreds of hacks targeting U.S. and international phone and internet providers by a Chinese-backed hacker group known as Salt Typhoon. The Senate has not yet scheduled a nomination hearing for Planke.
Nextgov reported Thursday that CISA has lost Bob Costello, the agency's chief information officer who was tasked with overseeing the agency's IT systems and data policies. The news agency reported that Gottumukkala's attempt to transfer Costello was blocked by anonymous political appointees.
CISA spokesperson McCarthy did not mention Costello's resignation in response to questions from TechCrunch, but did not dispute the report.