Memo: nearly all of CISA's top leaders, including heads of five of its six operational divisions and six of 10 regional offices, have left or are leaving in May
Most of the leaders of the agency's operating divisions and regional offices have left or will leave this month amid … Bluesky: @telecom-terrorist.com and @ericjgeller.com Bluesky: Joey Pebcak / @telecom-terrorist.com : Krasnov has successfully managed to allow the KGB or FSB or whatever name they call themselves now, unfettered access to our sensitive government systems. The egress of the people providing infosec best practices is the first domino. — I'd like to remind everyone what happened with DOGE. … Eric Geller / @ericjgeller.com : New: Nearly all of CISA's top leaders — including 5 of its 6 operational divisions and 6 of its 10 regional offices — have left or are leaving this month, the agency's new deputy director told staff. — Exits are fueling worries about CISA's capabilities. — www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa- se... …
Context & Ripple Effects
The May leadership departures extend a longer record of capacity and direction concerns at CISA. Earlier reporting described an agency underfunded and short of cyber talent, while a March account said layoffs and weak leadership were already harming its cyber-defense work.
This is not simply a single executive vacancy: the exits span operating divisions and regional offices. Subsequent coverage of roughly 1,000 CISA departures suggests the leadership turnover sits within a broader workforce contraction.
First-order effects
- CISA must replace or redistribute responsibilities across five operational divisions and six regional offices, putting continuity of management and regional coordination under immediate pressure.
- Federal agencies and other CISA stakeholders face less stable points of contact while departing leaders’ portfolios are reassigned.
Second-order effects
- The leadership gaps compound the staffing strain described in reports of mass layoffs and weak leadership, making it harder to preserve institutional knowledge as work is handed to remaining staff or new appointees.
- Organizations that depend on CISA’s coordination and guidance may need to plan for slower engagement or more variable support until leadership roles stabilize.
Third-order effects
- If senior and workforce attrition persist together, CISA’s effectiveness may depend less on centralized expertise and more on whether it can retain operational knowledge and rebuild management depth.
- The episode reinforces a broader resilience question for public cyber defense: institutions facing sustained personnel churn can lose capacity even when their formal mission and authorities remain unchanged.
The trend: This is one data point in the pressure on public-sector cyber resilience when workforce reductions and leadership turnover occur at the same time.