House Democrats are asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to examine how significant staffing and programmatic cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have affected the agency’s ability to carry out its mission, according to an Aug. 20 letter.
The request is led by Reps. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., and LaMonica McIver, D-N.J.
In their letter, the lawmakers said the staffing reductions raised concerns about CISA’s ability to fulfill its mission as attacks against critical infrastructure increase.
“At precisely the moment when our adversaries are accelerating attacks against critical infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the nation’s lead civilian cyber defense agency, has lost nearly one-third of its workforce,” the letter reads.
CISA’s latest reported workforce totaled 2,389 employees in December 2025, down from about 3,300 in January 2025. In a congressional hearing in March, acting CISA Director Nick Andersen said staffing had declined further during the 2026 DHS shutdown, though he did not provide updated figures.
The House Democrats’ letter states that Andersen told lawmakers that CISA planned to hire more than 300 new employees to rebuild its workforce.
In June, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing that DHS plans to rebuild CISA’s workforce over roughly 12 months, and possibly longer, after the U.S. Senate confirms a new CISA director. Mullin said DHS does not intend to restore every eliminated position but wants to recruit roughly 600 talented individuals.
These hiring plans mark a shift from the administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, which indicates plans to eliminate nearly 900 additional CISA positions.
The lawmakers said little is known about how the workforce reductions have affected CISA’s programs and services or what processes and plans the agency has to ensure it hires people who can address lost skill sets and meet mission demands.
The lawmakers cited GAO’s previous work on CISA activities and federal guidance on agency transformation and human capital planning as reasons for requesting the review.
They asked the GAO to examine four areas:
- How CISA’s workforce size, positions, locations, and number of contractors have changed over the past five years
- How programmatic activities have changed because of workforce reductions and what impacts CISA and critical infrastructure stakeholders have identified
- What data CISA collects and analyzes for workforce planning and whether it uses that data to align resources with agency priorities
- Whether CISA’s human capital strategy is aligned with its current and future mission requirements