The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s acting director testified that CISA is “getting back on mission,” but he provided few specifics after the agency lost nearly a third of its staff over the past year.

Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. Asked by Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) about reports of plans for a reorganization at CISA, Gottumukkala said there are no plans to reorganize the cyber agency.

“We do have a lot of changes in the last year, but we have not planned any organizational changes,” Gottumukkala said. “But we are continuing to look at how we rescope our existing work that we have so that we can get back on our mission of protecting the critical infrastructure. And if there is any organizational changes, I will assure that we will communicate with you.”

CISA has gone from roughly 3,400 staff at the start of last year to 2,400 employees at the end of December. Most of those who left departed under the Trump administration’s workforce reduction programs, with many leaving government service earlier than planned due to uncertainty at CISA under the Trump administration.

Gottumukkala is leading CISA as the Senate has yet to approve Sean Plankey to serve as director. During Wednesday’s hearing, Gottumukkala declined to provide details on recent reports that he failed a polygraph exam needed to access a sensitive cyber program and that he had worked to oust CISA’s chief information officer.

Gottumukkala also said multiple times that CISA was “getting back on mission.” But he said little about what the agency was doing differently with markedly less staff.

“The way we are supporting back on mission is to make sure that we are protecting our critical infrastructure from physical and cyber threats, and our divisions are properly equipped, and we are making sure that we are aligning our existing resources,” he said.

Asked by Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) about potential vacancies at CISA after the mass wave of departures, Gottumukkala said, “we have the required staff that is supporting the mission we do.”

Thompson said that was contrary to a November memo CISA shared with the committee. Lawmakers are advancing a homeland security spending bill that would provide CISA with funding to fill some “critical” positions. It would also stipulate that CISA “not reduce staffing in such a way that it lacks sufficient staff to effectively carry out its statutory missions.”

Gottumukkala was also asked by Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) how many cyber intrusions CISA expects from foreign adversaries as part of the 2026 midterm elections.

“We look at it as incident by incident, and we look at what the risks are. I don’t have a specific number in mind,” Gottumukkala said.

“Well, we should have that number,” Gonzales shot back. “It should first start by how many intrusions that we had last midterm and the midterm before that. I don’t want to wait. I don’t want us waiting until after the fact to be able to go, ‘Yeah, we got it wrong, and it turns out our adversaries influenced our election to that point.’”

CISA’s budget request for fiscal 2026 would eliminate its election security program. But the appropriations agreement released this week would continue funding CISA’s election security work.

Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) pressed Gottumukkala on whether CISA had analyzed if it could meet its mission with current staffing levels.

“The work that we do is mission focused, which means capability is measured by outcomes, not headcount,” Gottumukkala said.

Walkinshaw also asked about threats to state and local governments after CISA pulled funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center in September. But Gottumukkala didn’t address the question head on, frustrating the Virginia lawmaker.

“You’ve managed to answer none of my questions. You haven’t answered a single question. But thank you for coming,” Walkinshaw said.

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