US Cybersecurity at a Crossroads as Trump Admin Rewrites Federal Cyber Policy

At the 2025 RSA Conference in San Francisco, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem delivered a blistering keynote that reignited a fierce national debate over the future of cybersecurity governance in the United States. Her address was not just a critique of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), it also was a declaration of intent to radically reshape federal cybersecurity priorities under the Trump administration.

Noem accused CISA of drifting from its original charter of protecting critical infrastructure and federal networks by expanding its mission into the controversial realm of combatting misinformation. Calling CISA the “Ministry of Truth,” Noem argued that CISA’s counter-disinformation efforts during prior election cycles represented a dangerous and improper extension of federal authority.

In her remarks, Noem laid the foundation for a sweeping overhaul of CISA – now under way – and across the whole of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In her vision, CISA is being stripped back to its “core functions” of cyber threat response, support for local infrastructure security, and federal system hardening.

“I know the press has covered the role of homeland security and what we have done in CISA thus far with some of the reforms and efficiencies as a bad thing. I would encourage you to say just wait until you see what we’re able to do. There are reforms going on that are going to be much more responsive,” Noem stated.

As part of CISA’s redirection, the Trump administration has begun reducing CISA’s workforce, with reports indicating that up to 1,300 positions spanning both federal staff and contractors being eliminated. These cuts come amid an escalating threat environment in which nation-state actors like China and Russia are aggressively targeting U.S. infrastructure and other sensitive sectors.

Meanwhile, the administration has also put forth a proposed reorganization of the Department of State that could gut its Bureau of Cybersecurity and Digital Policy. Annie Fixler, director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe Tuesday that the reorganization “appears to put its cybersecurity efforts at risk and contradict guidance to integrate cybersecurity and digital economy efforts.”

The contradiction of the Trump administration’s cyber agenda across the board is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. While Noem frames the changes as a refocusing of priorities and a push for efficiency, security experts and former officials warn that the retrenchment will dangerously weaken national resilience against cyber-attacks.

Former CISA director Chris Krebs, who led the agency through its high-profile efforts to secure the 2020 election, has voiced grave concerns that scaling down CISA during a time of growing foreign aggression amounts to unilateral digital disarmament. Other cybersecurity leaders echo his concerns, describing the cuts as destabilizing and shortsighted.

At the center of this storm is the Chinese state-sponsored Salt Typhoon espionage campaign that has compromised U.S. telecommunications systems, including those of Verizon and AT&T. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued warnings and national security experts have testified before Congress that China’s ability to infiltrate and remain undetected in such systems presents a dire threat.

Salt Typhoon is not an isolated case; it follows on the heels of Volt Typhoon and other long-term Chinese campaigns which have successfully embedded within critical infrastructure networks including water systems, energy grids, and emergency communications.

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Courtesy of Anthony Kimery, Biometric Update