Ex-CISA chief decries cuts as Trump demands loyalty above all else

RSAC America's top cyber-defense agency is "being undermined" by personnel and budget cuts under the Trump administration, some of which are being driven by an expectation of perfect loyalty to the President rather than the nation.

That's according to Jen Easterly, who led the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, aka CISA, under former President Biden.

Speaking at an event on the outskirts of San Francisco's RSA Conference on Tuesday, Easterly didn't mince words, calling the White House's upheaval at CISA "a real loss for the federal government, but more so it's a loss for the American people."

Cybersecurity must be a non-partisan, non-political issue, she added, noting that all federal government employees are required to pledge to uphold the US Constitution.

When asked about ongoing CISA job cuts, Easterly attributed "some of these losses" to a "mandate for loyalty to a person over ...