CISA director touts private partnerships after agency killed many

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has killed many of the industry partnerships it used to enhance security, but don't tell the organization's acting director.

Speaking on Tuesday at a virtual public sector cyber resilience summit hosted by infosec firm Rubrik, Nick Andersen claimed that CISA’s public-private partnerships are the most critical aspect of his agency’s mission.

“We don’t see everything.

We’re not a law enforcement agency, intelligence agency, or a regulator,” Andersen said during a discussion at the summit.

CISA, he added, relies on intelligence and insight not only from other government agencies and international partners, but from the private sector as well.

CISA’s mission simply can’t succeed without motivating those various partners to share what they’ve seen, heard, and dealt with in order to build a comprehensive threat model.

“It’s all carrots and partnerships,” Andersen added, referring to motivating partners to get on board with programs like CISA’s CI Fortify initiative for building resilient critical infrastructure.

Were that actually the case, we wouldn’t really have a story to write here, but anyone who’s been following CISA’s trials and tribulations during the second Trump administration is likely to have raised an eyebrow at Andersen’s claims.

Trump returned to office riding a wave of plans to cut government spending, which included massive reductions at CISA.

Among the first CISA programs axed was the Cyber Safety Review Board, a public-private body set up by the Biden administration.

In addition to that closure, the Trump administration also shuttered the Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, and US Secret Service Cyber Investigations Advisory Board, all bodies consisting of government and private players working together toward cybersecurity goals.

Some of those bodies have since been stood up again or reformed under new names, wasting time and money that could have been better spent by cyber defenders doing things like, you know, advising CISA and other government agencies on security matters.

CISA also terminated funding for and ties to the Center for Internet Security in late 2025.

One of CISA’s bodies affected by the cut was the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a public-private partnership that shares threat intelligence and filters essential alerts down to the local government level.