The interim chief of the nation’s top #cyber defense agency
had convinced many people he was not up to the task long before his sudden reassignment late Thursday.
But the one person who mattered most
— Department of Homeland Security Secretary #Kristi #Noem
— stood firm on keeping him in place.
In his roughly nine months as acting director of the "Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency",
#Madhu #Gottumukkala made a series of decisions that alienated career staff,
created friction with Trump appointees
and provoked scrutiny from influential lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Nine current and four former cyber officials who spoke with POLITICO over the last several weeks said his tenure was so chaotic that it was hampering the agency’s core mission:
protecting sensitive government networks from a crush of cyberattacks.
All were granted anonymity for fear of retribution.
The frustration with Gottumukkala was shared by several administration officials,
two of whom told Noem as far back as November that Gottumukkala should not be in charge at #CISA,
according to three current cybersecurity officials with knowledge of those conversations.
But Noem was hesitant to remove Gottumukkala until recently
because she and DHS special adviser #Corey #Lewandowski
— Donald Trump’s former campaign manager
— feared it would reflect poorly on her,
as she was already facing immense pressure over DHS’s immigration crackdown and other issues,
two of those three officials said.
Noem’s reversal comes just days before a long-awaited Tuesday appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee,
where she is expected to face tough questions from lawmakers in both parties.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/28/cisa-cyber-leadership-madhu-gottumukkala-00804515