DOGE axes CISA ‘red team’ staffers amid ongoing federal cuts

The layoffs, which happened in late February and early March, are the latest round of staff cuts to hit the federal cybersecurity agency since the start of the Trump administration. 

CISA spokesperson Tess Hyre declined to comment on the latest round of job cuts affecting the agency and wouldn’t say how many employees had been affected. Hyre told TechCrunch that CISA’s red team “remains operational” but said the agency is “reviewing all contracts to ensure that they align with the priorities of the new administration.”

One of the people affected told TechCrunch that CISA red team employees, who simulate real-world attacks to identify security weaknesses in networks before attackers do, were affected by the DOGE-enforced cuts. 

Another person affected by the layoffs, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of government retaliation, told TechCrunch that laid-off employees also include staffers who worked for CISA’s Cyber Incident Response Team (CIRT), which is responsible for penetration testing and vulnerability management of networks belonging to U.S. federal government departments and agencies.

“As far as what will happen to those government systems, I have no knowledge,” the person said. 

The person said in total more than 80 employees supporting continuous monitoring had been laid off, as well as between 30 and 50 employees working in incident response.

One of the affected employees told TechCrunch that they are now looking for “DOGE-resistant gigs.” 

“DOGE felt like a ballistic missile with no guidance system,” the person said.