The Trump Administration has proposed a $491 million funding cut to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency for 2026, citing the need to refocus CISA on its core mission.

The proposed budget cut was one of many that were detailed in a letter Friday to Susan Collins, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, from Russell T. Vought, the director of the Executive Office of the President.

In the letter, Vought lays out “recommendations on discretionary funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2026,” noting that the proposed cuts are being provided “in advance of the President’s full fiscal plan to reach balance and restore confidence in America’s fiscal management, so that your Committee may commence with debate and consideration of appropriations bills for the upcoming fiscal year.”

The proposed cuts to CISA appear on page 17 of the 40-page letter, with the section stating that, along with wanting CISA to refocus on its core mission — federal network defense and enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure, also eliminates what the administration calls “weaponization and waste.”

The proposed budget also proposes the removal of offices that are duplicative of existing and effective programs at the state and federal level, eliminates programs focused on so-called misinformation and propaganda and also external engagement offices such as international affairs.

“These programs and offices were used as a hub in the Censorship Industrial Complex to violate the First Amendment, target Americans for protected speech and target the President,” the section of CISA states. “CISA was more focused on censorship than on protecting the Nation’s critical systems and put them at risk due to poor management and inefficiency, as well as a focus on self-promotion.”

Since the letter was more a broad summary of plans, the exact parts of CISA the administration to plans to cut is not entirely clear, although the mention of “external engagement offices such as international affairs” would suggest that some of all of CISA’s Engagement Division, which includes international engagement, is on the chopping block.

In a separate fact sheet released by the administration on “ending weaponization of Federal Government,” CISA is also accused of being “more focused on cooperating with Big Tech to target free speech than our Nation’s critical systems” and that “even CISA’s own systems have fallen prey to attacks.”

The administration’s proposal to cut some funding to CISA comes after President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to investigate former CISA Director Chris Krebs in April. The president said at the time that he thinks Krebs may be guilty of treason and also accused Krebs of having “weaponized his position against free speech in the election context,” in relation to Krebs opposing the president’s position on the authenticity of the 2020 election.

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