CISA cancels CyberCorps summer internship hiring amid DHS shutdown

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reversed a decision to onboard summer interns participating in a government scholarship program for cyber talent amid an ongoing funding lapse inside the Department of Homeland Security, according to emails obtained by Nextgov/FCW.

The CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service program provides college tuition and a stipend to awardees, who, in return, commit to working in a government cybersecurity role upon graduation. It’s backed by the Office of Personnel Management and the National Science Foundation, the latter of which awards scholarships that provide up to three years of support to undergraduate and graduate participants, including Ph.D candidates.

Over the last year, the longstanding pipeline was hampered by broader Trump-era moves to reduce the size and scope of the federal workforce. Many hiring and internship onboarding programs did not take place as expected, leaving scholars without work and under a looming deadline to fulfill program requirements or have to pay back their scholarships.

After multiple outlets, including Nextgov/FCW, covered challenges that scholars were facing under the program’s uncertainty, OPM announced plans to pursue a “mass deferment” of job placement deadlines for the cornerstone program, and CISA soon followed with its own plans to make around 100 internship opportunities available.

But DHS has now been unfunded for about two months, amid a partisan stalemate over immigration enforcement reforms. The cyberdefense agency, which is housed in DHS, is “unable to bring any [Scholarship for Service] interns onboard this summer given the impacts of the federal funding lapse,” according to one of the emails sent to a recipient. “Thank you again for your interest in CISA and we hope to be an option for you next year.”

Another email undersigned by a CISA official told planned program participants that, due to the DHS funding situation, “we will be shifting our focus away from SFS summer internships.”

“As of right now, there will be no SFS summer interns,” it adds. “I profusely apologize for the run-around this process has now given you two years in a row.”

The move is a major setback for students who had secured internships after months of confusion and uncertainty about their job outcomes.

Scholarship terms stipulate that graduates must secure a qualifying job approved by OPM within 18 months of completing their studies. If they don’t meet that deadline, their scholarship funding converts into a loan, obligating them to repay the full amount they received.

Nextgov/FCW has asked CISA for comment.

DHS employees were called back to the office this week, after President Donald Trump ordered the department to use funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to pay civilian employees and their furloughed colleagues who hadn’t received pay throughout the shutdown.

Due to its current cash issues, CISA is unable to cover costs beyond employee salaries, according to an email Acting Director Nick Andersen sent to staff on Monday that was obtained by Nextgov/FCW. The email specified that any non-salary expenditures now require an exception under the Antideficiency Act, which governs how agencies use their congressionally appropriated funds.