The current administration’s cybersecurity strategy is drawing sharp rebuke from Congress. In a forceful letter dated April 10, 2025, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, pressed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to urgently explain what he calls a destabilizing wave of cuts and reorganizations.

Swalwell’s letter explained that recent reports point to looming reductions of nearly 40% of CISA’s workforce, including teams responsible for threat hunting, vulnerability management and election security. These cuts come on the heels of mass firings, the elimination of critical red team contracts and a reported $10 million slash in funding for state and local cyber defense partnerships like the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC).

As Swalwell details, security leaders aren’t mincing words about these changes. Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned that the cuts are already “harming national security on a daily basis.” Meanwhile, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers voiced frustration that the federal government is pulling back resources just as it expects states to shoulder a larger share of the cybersecurity burden.

The letter is more than a routine oversight request — it’s a signal of rising alarm over the administration’s approach to cybersecurity governance. He emphasized that CISA has not provided Congress with any clear rationale for how it plans to fulfill its mission with dramatically fewer resources. Nor has the agency explained how these changes align with its congressional mandates.

The stakes are high. As Swalwell bluntly put it, “upending an agency that plays such an important role in defending the homeland while keeping Congress in the dark is wholly unacceptable.”

The Congressman is now demanding that CISA brief his subcommittee on these sweeping changes as soon as possible. Whether this will result in policy reversal or simply a clearer accounting of strategy remains to be seen.