LAS VEGAS — A Trump‑appointed cyberdefense agency official and a former National Security Agency cybersecurity chief offered contrasting views on whether scaling back the federal cyber workforce leaves the U.S. more secure or more vulnerable to hackers at the Black Hat conference on Tuesday.
Marci McCarthy, a Trump‑appointed official overseeing public affairs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the agency is refocusing on its “core mission” as its footprint and workforce is scaled back.
But Rob Joyce, the former head of the NSA’s cybersecurity division, argued that trimming those federal cyber functions risks leaving the U.S. more exposed.
The exchange came during a Tuesday night panel hosted by AllegisCyber Capital, JP Morgan Chase and DataTribe, which highlighted both sides of the divide over whether Trump-era efforts to scale down the nation’s main civilian cybersecurity workforce are prudent as digital threats from nation‑state hackers and cybercriminals intensify.
Almost a third of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s workforce has departed since the Trump administration began, driven by a combination of buyout offers, early retirements and layoffs. The departures stem from DOGE-fueled restructuring efforts, as well as political backlash that intensified after the 2020 election, when CISA was targeted by Trump allies over election integrity claims and purported censorship of free speech on social media.
McCarthy and Joyce were seated next to one another, joined by JP Morgan global CISO Patrick Opet.
Asked about being tasked to handle more responsibilities with a smaller workforce, McCarthy said that “national security is cybersecurity” and that the agency is “going back to the basics” while also “moving forward” to address evolving needs of critical infrastructure owners and operators.
She also highlighted a recent $100 million notice of funding opportunity connected to the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program, both of which aim to help cover the costs of bolstering cyberdefenses in state, local, tribal and territorial governments across the country.
But Joyce countered that “I really think we’ve backslid,” noting that this year, “we didn’t just lose the top layer of government, we lost operational capability across any number of departments and agencies. I don’t care how you slice it, we’ve lost capability. And so that loss of capability, it means relationships that aren’t in and known, but also just the technical expertise to dive in on some of these hard problems.”
He added: “And, you know, I will really offer — we weren’t everything we needed to be before that loss. And so now that’s slid down the hill, it gives me great concern.”
A swath of divisional and regional leaders across CISA have departed in recent months, as the White House seeks to drive CISA back to what Trump officials view as its core mission set that focuses solely on defending both critical infrastructure sectors and federal government networks from digital and physical threats.
Beyond CISA, numerous U.S. intelligence agencies have been targeted for reductions. Spy offices like the NSA possess numerous hacking, eavesdropping and surveillance capabilities, and their findings frequently complement advisories and papers issued by CISA.
“I think that the number one thing we’ve got to do is we’ve got to restore the capacity and capability in the government,” Joyce later said, adding that “I do think we need to have an intelligent conversation about regulation” in the cybersecurity sector.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and leading into election season, CISA had regular contact with social media platforms to inform them of mis- or disinformation-laced content, crafted or amplified by foreign adversaries and home-grown entities.
But the agency began chilling communications following a July 2023 Missouri-originated lawsuit alleging that the Biden administration’s efforts to flag disinformation violated First Amendment rights and suppressed politically conservative voices.
In 2020, President Donald Trump falsely claimed the election that year was rigged and stolen from him. After former CISA director Chris Krebs said the election was the “most secure in American history,” the president fired him. Krebs, as well as his former private sector employer, have since been targeted by the second Trump administration.
Just last week, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll rescinded a United States Military Academy at West Point job offer extended to former CISA director Jen Easterly, who served under then-President Joe Biden. The move came after far-right activist Laura Loomer cast her as part of a network of officials she accused of working against Trump.
Asked what this targeting of Krebs and Easterly says about the Trump administration’s openness to dissenting views from former officials, McCarthy said “that would be a question for President Trump.”
