A recent October 22, 2025 article revealed that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will be laying off nearly all of its 95 employees within the Stakeholder Engagement Division (SED), effectively dismantling three of its four operational units. The division historically served as CISA’s linchpin linking the agency with state and local governments, private industry, academic partners, and international allies. For many observers, the layoffs raise alarm bells about America’s readiness to handle increasingly complex cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure. Yet, viewed through the lens of President Donald Trump’s governing philosophy, the move appears consistent with his administration’s broader vision for federal cybersecurity – leaner, more operationally focused, and propelled by technological innovation rather than bureaucratic consensus.

The Cuts: What They Mean and Why They Matter

The SED has played a pivotal role in bridging communication gaps between federal agencies and the private sector. Its work organizing sector risk management councils, international cyber cooperation programs, and cross-industry working groups has been vital to national resilience. By cutting these units, the administration is eliminating a core component of America’s collaborative cyber defense model. The impact is immediate and long-term. Without the Council Management and International Affairs offices, CISA will lose decades of institutional knowledge and trust cultivated with critical infrastructure operators and foreign partners. The layoffs could weaken U.S. leadership in cyber diplomacy and hinder joint cyber exercises that have proven crucial to deterring adversaries.

In parallel, a recent report highlighted that U.S. cyber policy progress has regressed under Trump’s second term. According to its findings, nearly 25% of previously implemented cyber policy recommendations have lost their “fully implemented” status due to staff attrition and structural changes within CISA and the State Department. Nonetheless, the administration insists that the restructuring reflects a strategic refocusing. According to internal DHS sources, CISA will now “solely support SRMA efforts” – Sector Risk Management Agencies – in alignment with priorities to strengthen core infrastructure defenses while “optimizing operational effectiveness”.

Trump’s Vision: Efficiency, Focus, and Innovation

President Trump’s view of the federal government has always been shaped by principles of efficiency and accountability. His administration’s approach to cybersecurity reflects that ethos, prioritizing streamlined agencies, reduced overhead, and visible results.

• Smaller Bureaucracy, Bigger Leverage. CISA’s SED was never explicitly authorized by Congress when the agency was established in 2018. That technicality, combined with Trump’s skepticism toward what he perceives as redundant government functions, made it a natural target for consolidation. By trimming a division focused on dialogue rather than direct operations, the White House signals a preference for a more mission-focused CISA, one less encumbered by administrative coordination and more centered on defensive execution.
• Refocusing Cyber Diplomacy and Disinformation Efforts. CISA previously drew political fire for its role in tracking misinformation and coordinating with social media companies, efforts some conservatives framed as overreach. The aforementioned report confirms that Trump’s administration has scaled back these programs and rolled them into broader DHS intelligence frameworks to avoid what it sees as mission creep. By reducing stakeholder and international engagement functions, the administration repositions CISA away from the political crossfire surrounding online content moderation and international norm-shaping – areas viewed as peripheral to hard cybersecurity.
• Innovation Over Process. In contrast to perceptions of rollback, Trump’s team frames the cuts as a modernization initiative. By stripping layers of administrative structure, CISA is expected to lean harder into automation, data-driven threat intelligence, and next-generation tools like artificial intelligence (AI)-based network defense systems. National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross has echoed this sentiment. At the 2025 Meridian Summit in Washington, D.C., Cairncross outlined a forthcoming National Cybersecurity Strategy that emphasizes practical, technology-driven resilience. His strategy seeks to unify cyber defense, streamline program authorizations, and reduce interagency overlap, all in the name of accelerating innovation. This vision positions innovation, and not interagency coordination, as the future engine of American cybersecurity.

Balancing Risks and Opportunities

The risk, however, is that innovation without collaboration can create dangerous blind spots. Cyber defense remains a collective enterprise; CISA’s strength has long been in convening trusted relationships across sectors. The dissolution of SED could make it harder for local governments and private operators to share threat intelligence or receive timely federal support. The Solarium Commission’s warning about regression underscores this danger. A leaner CISA might gain agility but lose the distributed situational awareness that underpins national resilience Still, opportunity exists in realigning CISA’s mission around technological leadership. By embracing innovation-first principles from AI-enabled intrusion detection to automated threat-sharing APIs, the agency could modernize faster than its bureaucratic predecessors. If executed correctly, this transformation could yield a nimbler, data-centric CISA aligned with Trump’s emphasis on efficiency and performance metrics.

Cairncross’s upcoming strategy may serve as the blueprint for this evolution. His focus on unifying cyber defense and streamlining governance could pave the way for new models of collaboration that rely less on formal councils and more on real-time digital ecosystems.

The Road Ahead

In the coming months, several trends are likely to emerge from the restructuring:

• Internal Consolidation: Some of SED’s engagement functions will be absorbed into operational divisions, though the loss of experienced personnel may slow adaptation.
• Ad-Hoc Public-Private Partnerships: Expect CISA to rely more on contractual and project-based collaborations rather than permanent councils.
• Technology-Driven Coordination: CISA’s new model will likely depend on digital platforms, automated indicator sharing, and cloud-based situational dashboards instead of traditional roundtables.

Ultimately, this restructuring marks a philosophical shift. It is less a retreat from cybersecurity leadership than a recalibration of how the federal government defines it. Trump’s CISA is betting that innovation and lean governance can compensate for the loss of established networks and institutional knowledge. Trading bureaucracy for agility is a gamble that will define the next chapter of U.S. cyber defense. Success will depend on whether CISA can harness innovation to not only protect, but also connect, a nation facing unprecedented digital threats.

The move underscores a growing reality: cybersecurity evolves faster than the bureaucracies designed to manage it. By stripping away layers of hierarchy, the administration is pushing CISA toward a model that prizes speed, experimentation, and private-sector collaboration. It’s a bold vision, and one that sees innovation as both the strategy and the safeguard.

Yet, agility comes with risk. CISA’s strength has always rested on relationships between government, industry, and international partners. Reducing its engagement capacity could erode that trust just as global threat actors grow more coordinated and aggressive. Technology can enhance defense, but it cannot replace human networks built on communication and shared purpose.

Still, if CISA can redefine itself as an agile catalyst rather than a caretaker, this disruption could yield a more adaptive and forward-looking approach to national cyber defense. It’s a high-stakes transformation that may determine how the United States secures its digital sovereignty in the years ahead.

In the end, CISA’s success will hinge on a simple truth: innovation moves fast—but trust is what keeps pace.