Lawmakers probe CISA leader over staffing decisions

The acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency faced pointed questions from lawmakers Wednesday over CISA personnel decisions and staffing levels. Members of the House Homeland Security Committee asked Madhu Gottumukkala about a reported attempt to fire the agency’s chief information officer, efforts to push out a large number of staff and whether CISA had enough people to do the job. Gottumukkala at times sidestepped the questions, with the probing coming from both sides of the aisle.

However, Democrats exhibited deeper worries about the agency’s workforce and its ability to do its job. Cutbacks at CISA after employees were “bullied into quitting” — among other methods of reducing CISA’s size — have “weakened our defenses and left our critical systems and infrastr