The Trump administration cut the CISA budget by one-third.
Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 45%
Deadline: White HouseOct 20, 2026
The post says they "cut it by a third" about the agency, and sources show roughly one-third of CISA's workforce was cut, but the claim's object "budget" is an addition the passage never makes.
A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Bush and, um, and, and Donald Trump in his first term. Ah, you know, again, this isn't like a Biden or Obama agency, is, is being gutted. Ah, you know, they cut it by a third. They've cut the people who are, you know, working most closely with election officials. So, you know, I think that a lot of the story looks at how those two things just, just don't really quite make sense, the rhetoric versus the action. …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Budget-specific figures show smaller cuts: the FY2026 proposal cut about $495M, roughly 18% of current funding, and CBS reports the FY2026 request at about $2.4B versus about $3B for FY2025.[4][6]
Supports. Multiple sources report that roughly one-third of CISA's workforce was cut or pushed out since 2025, which matches the post's point about cutting the agency by a third.[1][2][3][4][5]
Context. The Atlantic describes CISA's budget as reduced and its staff cut by one-third in the early DOGE period, but this single line does not quantify a budget cut of one-third.[7]
Context. The FY2027 proposal would cut CISA's budget by about $700M, which sources describe as a further reduction rather than a one-third cut.[5][8]
Sources
8 sources: 1 fact-checker, 2 primary, 3 tier 2, 2 not rated
- 1How Trump policies align with Project 2025 on immigration, federal reform and moresnopes.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Warner Raises Alarm on CISA Workforce and Budget Cuts That Are ...warner.senate.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 3Krishnamoorthi Blasts Trump Cybersecurity Cuts as Experts ...krishnamoorthi.house.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 4Trump zeroes in on election security. His team has cut ...cbsnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 5Trump Appointees Asked a Federal Cybersecurity Agency to Secretly Acquire a Voting Machine — and Hack Itpropublica.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 6Trump's CISA budget lays out deep job cuts, program ...cybersecuritydive.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 7How Trump Left America Vulnerable to Cyberattackstheatlantic.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
- 8Trump administration plans to cut cybersecurity agency’s ...techcrunch.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The Trump administration has cut funds for election security.True
- The Trump administration dismantled or significantly reduced the size and capability of organizations like CISA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department that identified foreign influence efforts.True
- Donald Trump signed the legislation establishing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).True
- Donald Trump signed CISA legislation into law that created election security architecture.True
- The current administration fired everyone at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in February and March of 2025.False