CISA appoints new acting cyber chief after recent leadership shakeups

Chris Butera will serve as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s acting executive assistant director for the agency’s cybersecurity division, following leadership changes put into place at the agency last week.

Prior CISA acting director Madhu Gottumukkala was moved to another role in DHS, while Nick Andersen — the previous executive assistant director for the cyber division — took his place helming the agency.

“As CISA’s senior career cybersecurity official, he is responsible for leading the agency’s mission to address the nation’s most significant cyber threats and vulnerabilities and to increase the security and resilience of U.S. critical infrastructure,” an agency bio page for Butera says.

Butera has cycled through CISA technical and leadership roles over the past two years, often during transitions. He served as the Cybersecurity Division’s senior technical director before becoming acting executive assistant director in June 2025, leading the agency’s cyber mission until September, when Andersen was named to the permanent post.

The change comes shortly after Gottumukkala became the subject of several unflattering media reports that led up to his reassignment elsewhere in DHS.

The new roles come as CISA has lost much of its workforce to a slew of efforts the Trump administration undertook in the last year to reduce purported government bloat and spending waste. Former officials and other observers have pushed back on some of those cuts.

The agency continues to lose talent. Shelly Hartsook, acting associate director in CISA’s cyber division, is expected to leave in the coming days, a person familiar with the matter said. The planned departure was first reported by Federal News Network.