CISA downsizing and the end of federal funding for state cyber information-sharing (2025-2026)

CISA downsizing and the end of federal funding for state cyber information-sharing (2025-2026)

Case

In March 2025 DHS/CISA cut about $10 million a year in funding for MS-ISAC, the hub that passes cyber threat intelligence between the federal government and state and local governments; the agreement ended Sept. 30, 2025. MS-ISAC moved to paid membership and lost roughly 70% of its members by June 2026, including several states. CISA itself has lost about a third of its staff since January 2025, and the administration's FY2027 request proposes a further $707 million cut.

What happened to MS-ISAC (2025)
In March 2025 CISA confirmed it would cut $10 million a year in funding to the Center for Internet Security (CIS) for running MS-ISAC and the Election Infrastructure ISAC, saying the work 'no longer effectuates department priorities'.
CISA's cooperative agreement with CIS expired on Sept. 30, 2025, ending federal funding for MS-ISAC, which had offered free membership to state, local, tribal and territorial governments for 20-plus years. CISA said it was moving to a 'new model' of grants, no-cost services, performance goals and regional coordinators.
MS-ISAC moved to paid membership. On the day federal funding ended it had 18,574 members, including all 56 states and territories; by June 2026 it had about 5,600 organizations (21 states, two territories and roughly 2,700 local jurisdictions, plus 15 states paying for statewide coverage of 2,895 localities), a loss of roughly 70%.

State-by-state fallout (2026)
As of February 2026, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. were dues-paying statewide members or finalizing membership; Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Carolina had paid for state agencies only.
Washington State left MS-ISAC because of a budget deficit, cutting nearly 500 local entities off from 'a shared operating picture'. Kentucky left after deciding membership 'did not represent an effective return on investment'. Colorado and Michigan also said they left.
Connecticut found the money but said it was unsure it could continue; Virginia said it had to scale down its agreement because of the loss of federal funding.
New Jersey became a paid statewide member in November 2025 at $795,000 a year; Rhode Island's state/territory-wide membership was a $177,000 population-based fee.
Vermont became the 13th state to buy statewide membership; Texas, Kansas and Mississippi were among the early buyers.
In the 2026 NASCIO-Deloitte study of all 50 state CISOs, 16% reported budget reductions in 2026 versus none in 2024, and the study notes the administration's switch of MS-ISAC to fee-based membership.

CISA staffing and budget
CISA has lost roughly one-third of its staff since January 2025, and its Stakeholder Engagement Division lost 96 of 189 staff.
Five of CISA's ten regional directors, the agency's main contacts for state and local governments, were serving only in an acting capacity, per Sen. Mark Warner.
Witnesses at a House hearing said CISA's work with state and local governments had been hampered by the elimination of the CIPAC partnership council, the pulling of MS-ISAC funding, and Congress's failure to reauthorize the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program.
The FY2026 request sought about $491 million in CISA cuts; Congress reduced that to about $135 million.
The FY2027 request (April 2026, not enacted) proposes a $707 million cut, taking CISA to roughly $2 billion, including cutting the Stakeholder Engagement Division to 62 positions, 71 field advisers and $42 million from regional operations.

Election security and the Krebs memo
The FY2027 request would eliminate CISA's election security program ($39.6 million, 14 staff) and, per OMB, programs focused on 'so-called misinformation and propaganda' and external engagement offices such as stakeholder engagement.
On April 9, 2025, Trump signed a memorandum directing the Attorney General to investigate former CISA director Chris Krebs, revoking his security clearance and suspending clearances at his employer SentinelOne. Trump had fired Krebs in 2020 after he said there were no technological issues with the election.
The memo also called for 'a comprehensive evaluation of all of CISA's activities over the last 6 years' for conduct contrary to the administration's stance on 'ending federal censorship'.

Context: ICE funding in the same period
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 2025) gave ICE a $75 billion supplement, including $45 billion for detention, that it can spend over about four years on top of a base budget of roughly $10 billion; NPR reported ICE had $85 billion at its disposal.

Perspectives

Official position — White House Office of Management and Budget / CISA
The FY2027 budget 'refocuses CISA on its core mission' of federal network defense and critical infrastructure security 'while eliminating weaponization and waste', removing offices that duplicate state and federal programs and programs focused on so-called misinformation. CISA said the MS-ISAC work 'no longer effectuates department priorities', that it was moving to a new model of grants, no-cost services and regional support, and that it 'communicates with our state and local partners regularly and provides them with timely threat intelligence, expertise, no-cost tools and resources'.

Defender — Center for Internet Security (MS-ISAC operator)
CIS president and CEO John Gilligan called retaining almost half of MS-ISAC's state members a 'huge success' given the short notice, and said the group is 'getting as good quality threat information as we have in the past' from members' telemetry, though it has cut staff and expects stability only by the end of 2026.

Critic — Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and state officials
Warner says 'defunding critical infrastructure protections has led to information silos and deprived communities across the nation of the ability to collaborate' and has drafted a bill to resume MS-ISAC funding; he wrote that CISA's partial staffing restoration appears 'insufficient given the scale of threats... particularly at the state level'. New York's director of security and intelligence said the moves 'will shrink visibility, reduce information sharing and threaten operational collaboration at a time when we can least afford it'.

Editorial read — The Author (site author), thesis
The Author's thesis: this is not mainly an agency failure but the product of the administration gutting CISA, and the choices put the country at risk after the risks were raised in advance. The Author reads it as part of a pattern of Trump punishing people and groups who disagree with his policies, pointing to the targeting of CISA's election security and misinformation work and to the April 2025 memo against former director Chris Krebs. The Author also contrasts a $10 million-a-year cut to state threat-sharing with a $75 billion supplement for ICE in the same period. The record documents the cuts, the warnings and the Krebs memo; the administration's stated reasons are budgetary and mission-focus ones, and the MS-ISAC cut hit red and blue states alike, so motive remains the Author's inference rather than something a source establishes.

Note
The administration says the changes refocus CISA on its core mission and remove waste and duplication, and the MS-ISAC operator says its threat intelligence quality has been maintained.

Sources
[1] The Record: CISA cuts $10 million annually from ISAC funding (https://therecord.media/cisa-cuts-10-million-isac-funding) · 2025-03
[2] Cybersecurity Dive: MS-ISAC enters uncertain new era after losing federal funding and thousands of members (https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/ms-isac-membership-loss-states-federal-funding-cut/821984/) · 2026-06-15
[3] Route Fifty: 'It's not over': Cyber info-sharing center begins 'next chapters' after losing federal funding (https://www.route-fifty.com/cybersecurity/2026/02/its-not-over-cyber-info-sharing-center-begins-next-chapters-after-losing-federal-funding/411633) · 2026-02-24
[4] GovTech: Federal Government Acknowledges End of MS-ISAC Support (https://www.govtech.com/security/federal-government-acknowledges-end-of-ms-isac-support) · 2025-10
[5] GovTech: Vermont Becomes 13th State to Purchase MS-ISAC Membership (https://www.govtech.com/security/vermont-becomes-13th-state-to-purchase-ms-isac-membership)
[6] GovTech: New Jersey Sign-Ups for MS-ISAC Remain Low Amid Attacks (https://www.govtech.com/security/new-jersey-sign-ups-for-ms-isac-remain-low-amid-attacks)
[7] GovSpend: SLED cybersecurity spending in 2026, adapting to the post-MS-ISAC funding era (https://govspend.com/blog/sled-cybersecurity-spending-in-2026-adapting-to-the-post-ms-isac-funding-era)
[8] Federal News Network: CISA cyber partnerships face 'standstill' amid cuts (https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cybersecurity/2026/04/cisa-cyber-partnerships-face-standstill-amid-cuts/) · 2026-04
[9] Sen. Mark Warner: Warner Raises Alarm on CISA Workforce and Budget Cuts (https://www.warner.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warner-raises-alarm-on-cisa-workforce-and-budget-cuts-that-are-leaving-our-country-vulnerable-to-threats/)
[10] FedWeek: Leading Senator on Intelligence Issues Presses CISA on Staff Cuts, Turnover (https://www.fedweek.com/federal-managers-daily-report/leading-senator-on-intelligence-issues-presses-cisa-on-staff-cuts-turnover/)
[11] Cybersecurity Dive: CISA FY2027 budget request details (https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-trump-budget-fy2027-details/816855/)
[12] SecurityWeek: White House Seeks to Slash CISA Funding by $707 Million (https://securityweek.com/white-house-seeks-to-slash-cisa-funding-by-707-million) · 2026-04
[13] AFCEA SIGNAL: Administration Proposes $707 Million Cut in CISA Programs (https://www.afcea.org/signal-media/us-administration-proposes-707-million-cut-cisa-programs)
[14] Smart Cities Dive: State CISOs losing confidence (2026 NASCIO-Deloitte study) (https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/state-cisos-cybersecurity-2026-nascio-deloitte/819333/) · 2026
[15] The Next Web: Trump's FY27 budget would cut $700M from CISA and kill election security (https://thenextweb.com/news/cisa-budget-cut-700-million-trump-fy27) · 2026-04
[16] ITPro: US lawmakers say CISA cuts raise 'serious concerns about the agency's ability to fulfil its mission' (https://www.itpro.com/security/us-lawmakers-say-cisa-cuts-raise-serious-concerns-about-the-agencys-ability-to-fulfil-its-mission)
[17] The Record: Trump memo on Chris Krebs, CISA and SentinelOne (https://therecord.media/trump-memo-chris-krebs-cisa-sentinelone) · 2025-04-10
[18] KrebsOnSecurity: Trump revenge tour targets cyber leaders, elections (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2025/04/trump-revenge-tour-targets-cyber-leaders-elections/) · 2025-04-14
[19] NPR: How ICE grew to be the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency (https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5674887/ice-budget-funding-congress-trump) · 2026-01-21
[20] Cloud Security Alliance research note: CISA's $707M cut and the enterprise risk coverage gap (https://labs.cloudsecurityalliance.org/research/csa-research-note-cisa-budget-fy2027-enterprise-implications/) · 2026-04
[21] Infosecurity Magazine: US Cuts Federal Funding for MS-ISAC Cybersecurity Program (https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/us-cuts-funding-ms-isac/)

Connections

Same context — DOGE 'Defend the Spend': delayed and frozen funding to states
DOGE contract terminations and staff cuts in early 2025 hit CISA, alongside broader federal funding cuts affecting states.

Same context — Elon Musk: 2024 political spending, DOGE role and ties to the Trump administration
DOGE-era federal cuts, tagged DOGE in this entry, hit state cyber information-sharing.

Same context — ICE detention funding surge and private contractor revenue (2025-2026)
Same budget period: a $10 million cut to state cyber threat-sharing alongside a $75 billion ICE supplement (separate decisions, not a transfer).