New York State’s first Chief Cybersecurity Officer, Colin Ahern, is raising eyebrows, and alarms, over President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts to the nation’s cyber defense systems. And he is not whispering his concerns. Ahern, who leads the state’s digital defense efforts, says the proposed cuts are a dangerous step backward just when cyber threats are ramping up.
Trump’s budget aims to chop off nearly $500 million from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). That is a 17% slash, including wiping out programs that deal with disinformation and public communication, programs that became especially important after the 2020 election interference drama. CISA wouldn’t just lose money. The agency could be forced to cut about one-third of its workforce, gutting its capacity to support state and local governments against cyberattacks.
Ahern didn’t sugarcoat his reaction. He warned that these cuts “will have downstream effects on our ability to secure our government, our infrastructure, and our communities.” He made it clear that states like New York rely on the feds for coordination, intelligence, and funding, especially when it comes to things like ransomware, election security, and critical infrastructure.
And New York’s been busy. Just this year, the state passed a law requiring all local governments to report cyberattacks within 72 hours and any ransom payments within 24. The wall street journal noted this law was a response to growing concerns that small municipalities were sitting ducks for cybercriminals.
But without the federal safety net, Ahern says, that law becomes much harder to enforce. You can’t respond to attacks quickly if you don’t have the people, money, or federal guidance to do it right. And you definitely can’t build an airtight digital infrastructure when the nation’s top cyber agency is gutted.
Meanwhile, the Trump team defends the cuts, arguing that CISA has drifted too far into political territory, particularly its work on countering disinformation. A Cyber security dive article explained the administration’s position, which is; scale back to “essential services” like protecting critical infrastructure, and leave “free speech” issues out of federal hands.
That hasn’t calmed cybersecurity experts. Chris Krebs, the former head of CISA, said the move would essentially hand hackers a “golden opportunity.” It’s a view echoed across the cybersecurity world, where many believe state and local governments, already strapped for resources, will be left even more vulnerable if these cuts go through.
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