The top cybersecurity agency in the United States is preparing for Donald Trump

Another CISA employee speculates that “compliance efforts such as secure design may not receive the support they currently benefit from.”

This rollback of corporate oversight will be a top priority for Musk and the other tech billionaires who have flocked to Trump. “The technological impact here, assuming Elon Musk stays in Trump’s fold, will be significant,” the cyber official says.

Without high-level support from the White House, CISA’s Secure Design campaign is “toothless,” says CISA’s first employee. “Some companies will be less inclined to follow these (guidelines) if they don’t think the executive will support them.”

CISA staff are also watching anxiously to see if Trump officials pressure the cyber agency to tone down Its draft executive regulations Require critical infrastructure operators to report cyber incidents. Congress imposed this rule in the 2022 spending bill, but groups representing infrastructure operators He complained The draft requirements — which must be finalized by late 2025 — are too onerous. Trump could force CISA to scale back the rules in order to appease the private sector.

The cyber official says Trump and his allies want to “get rid of anyone who can enforce the rules, because then the rules won’t matter.” “In the case of CISA, this will be very important.”

CISA is also preparing to make changes to its election security mission. The agency has already done so Significantly reduce conversations With social media companies about tracking misinformation online Backlash from the rightBut Trump’s team may force CISA to abandon more of its election security work. CISA employees are concerned that Trump will prevent the agency from participating in the elections of state and local election officials. “Reliable Information” initiative.which encourages Americans to listen to local election supervisors instead of provocative online claims.

“I think this work is probably over,” says a third CISA employee.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, They adopted electoral conspiracies After Biden won in 2020. “Kristi Noem is a Trump loyalist who supported him in allegations of election rejection, and now she will be in charge of the agency that oversees (CISA),” the cyber official says. “I have a lot of questions about what’s going on there.”

The third CISA employee expects to see “persecution of those who conducted election security work” once Trump takes office.

Weaken the authorities

Trump’s victory could also have serious consequences for other CISA missions.

Under Biden, CISA has made gains Wider authority and New financing to Monitor other agencies’ networks due to suspicious activity, turning her into the central defender of the federal networks that many experts had always hoped she would become. That may change under Trump, especially if senior officials close to Trump become dissatisfied with CISA oversight.