CISA has roughly 250 prospective hires awaiting clearance, agency chief says
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Acting Director Nick Andersen says the agency is prioritizing operational teams and regional staff as it works to rebuild its workforce after reductions last year.
Roughly 250 prospective Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency employees have received tentative job offers and are awaiting clearance to start work, acting Director Nick Andersen told reporters Wednesday, the latest update on the cyberdefense agency’s efforts to fill staffing gaps after much of its workforce was reduced over the last year.
The candidates have been screened, interviewed and selected, Andersen said on the sidelines of the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, D.C. He described the number as approximate and said the agency expects to welcome “hundreds of new CISA employees in the very near future.”
The hiring effort follows steep workforce reductions at CISA under the Trump administration that affected around a third of the cyberdefense office’s employees. Andersen previously outlined plans to hire around 330 people, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in June that the agency likely needed roughly 600 additional employees and that bringing them aboard could take a year.
Asked whether CISA was working toward that larger figure, Andersen said there’s currently a greater focus on filling specific operational gaps over immediately reaching a headcount target. He didn’t offer a timetable for getting to 600 people.
The question is whether CISA has “the right people in the right roles right now” as cyber threats continue evolving, he said.
The agency’s hiring priorities include its cybersecurity, infrastructure security and emergency communications divisions, Andersen added. It’s also focused on onboarding field and integrated operations personnel, including regional cybersecurity advisers, protective security advisers and emergency communications coordinators.
The hiring push also extends to employees needed to bring other workers aboard, including security clearance adjudicators and human resources professionals, Andersen said.
The workforce cuts follow a yearslong dispute between Trump allies and CISA, dating to the first Trump administration, where then-Director Chris Krebs was fired after affirming the 2020 election’s security and contradicting President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims the election was stolen from him.
Trump officials have subsequently cited allegations of censorship in CISA’s work countering online misinformation to argue for shrinking the agency. Former officials and practitioners have warned that the reductions jeopardize its broader mission, including helping infrastructure operators shield themselves against foreign hackers.
Rebuilding the cyber agency’s staff has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers concerned about the effects of the administration’s earlier reductions. Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., told Nextgov/FCW in June that recruiting employees back would be difficult after administration officials publicly criticized their work and pushed out personnel.
The administration has also proposed further changes to the agency’s staffing and responsibilities. Its fiscal 2027 budget request called for eliminating roughly 867 positions across CISA, including funded but unfilled jobs, with program reductions partially offset by transfers into the agency and targeted hiring.
In June, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner pressed CISA for records on staffing levels and vacancies across its regional offices, concerned that the workforce cuts over the last year may have weakened the agency’s ability to support state and local governments, Nextgov/FCW first reported.