It’s hard to pinpoint where the concept of cyberwar originated. In roundabout ways it likely goes back many decades in fiction. As far as citations go, some believe a seminal work is titled Unrestricted Warfare by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, two colonels in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Regardless of when the premise started, the computer-based cold war has been going full steam for two decades or more. What are now dubbed ‘threat actors’ from every major country are active in hacking adversaries to gain intelligence.
Since 2013, cyberwarfare has been an integral part of the conflict and subsequent war between Ukraine and Russia. The cold war between the U.S. and Russia has been waged for well over a decade. Similarly, the cyberwar between the U.S. and many other countries including China, Iran, and North Korea have been going steady. With that in mind it seems that the U.S. should be deeply concerned about the threat that is posed. Knowing that these countries have already infiltrated critical infrastructure the threat of human fatalities is present.
So why does it seem like the U.S. is losing the war due to their own actions? In Public Law 115-278, better known as the “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018”, Donald Trump’s administration created the agency (CISA) that would be responsible for defending against attacks. The DHS budget for cybersecurity in the 2019 fiscal year was $712 million dollars. In the 2020 fiscal year, the “investments in federal network protection, proactive cyber protection, and infrastructure security” jumped to over one billion dollars.
A year later the 2021 budget called for almost 1.4 billion dollars. In 2022 CISA was earmarked for over 2.1 billion dollars and in 2023 climbed higher to over 2.3 billion dollars. CISA’s budget in 2024 was almost 2.5 billion dollars showing continued growth and apparent concern over the threats posed by foreign adversaries. By last year that figure had barely topped 2.5 billion dollars but shows the prior year’s growth had gone away. So what happened in 2026 that changed all of this? CISA’s budget dropped to under 2 billion, a drop of over half a billion dollars. If you think that is a blip on the radar then keep in mind that the projected 2027 fiscal budget calls for a hair over 2 billion for CISA again. No gain, no drop.
Current Perspective
Regardless of planned budgets, things can change month to month depending on the political climate. That means what is happening in the world as much as who is in power to call the shots about discretionary funding or calling for cuts. Ignoring the budget numbers we can look to the headlines since last January to get a better idea of what is really going on. With news of staffing cuts across the U.S. government at the hands of D.O.G.E., including CISA, that was really just the start of it.
Geopolitical tension is as strong as it has ever been with conflicts and wars being waged around the world. The U.S. and China have been in a constant battle of sabre-rattling for ages, as much as the U.S. and Russia. The U.S. currently finds itself at war with Iran and has significant interests in the Ukraine / Russian war. Given these are all the top threat actors that pose the most risk to the U.S. it seems that our desire to strengthen resources to protect against it would be paramount. Unfortunately, the headlines paint a different picture altogether.
Timeline of Headlines
2025-01-22 – Trump admin fires security board investigating Chinese hack of large ISPs
2025-01-23 – Under Trump, US Cyberdefense Loses Its Head
2025-02-14 – Top US Election Security Watchdog Forced to Stop Election Security Work
2025-03-11 – DOGE axes CISA ‘red team’ staffers amid ongoing federal cuts
2025-03-12 – Trump Administration Shakes Up CISA with Staff and Funding Cuts
2025-04-16 – CVE, global source of cybersecurity info, was hours from being cut by DHS
2025-05-27 – Top CISA division chiefs depart amid broader agency reduction plans
2025-06-04 – CISA workforce cut by nearly one-third so far
2025-06-06 – Trump scraps Biden software security, AI, post-quantum encryption efforts in new executive order
2025-06-17 – Trump Reverses Key Directives of Biden Cyber Executive Order, Maintains Others
2025-07-15 – Top U.S. cyber agency keeps shrinking under Trump 2.0
2025-07-24 – Senators push CISA director nominee on election security, agency focus
2025-08-02 – Senate confirms Sean Cairncross to be national cyber director under Trump
2025-09-03 – CISA picks Nicholas Andersen to bolster critical infrastructure cyber defenses amid rising nation-state threats
2025-09-22 – Cyber threat information law hurtles toward expiration, with poor prospects for renewal
2025-09-29 – CISA to furlough 65% of staff if government shuts down this week
2025-09-30 – US Cuts Federal Funding for MS-ISAC Cybersecurity Program
2025-10-01 – Landmark US cyber-information-sharing program expires, bringing uncertainty
2025-10-03 – Government flying partially blind to threats after key cyber law expires
2025-10-10 – Homeland Security reassigns ‘hundreds’ of CISA cyber staffers to support Trump’s deportation crackdown
2025-10-15 – Layoffs, reassignments further deplete CISA
2025-10-20 – House Democrats want answers on CISA reassignments to border security, immigration roles
2025-10-22 – US ‘slipping’ on cybersecurity, annual Cyberspace Solarium Commission report concludes
2025-10-22 – CISA’s international, industry and academic partnerships slashed
2025-10-22 – Cuts by the Trump administration have eroded America’s cyberdefenses even as foreign adversaries launch more, and more aggressive, cyberattacks.
2025-10-23 – Kristi Noem pledged to boost the nation’s cybersecurity. She gutted it instead.
2025-11-28 – The U.S. has been cutting cyber defenses as AI boosts attacks
2025-12-21 – Acting CISA director failed a polygraph. Career staff are now under investigation.
2026-01-13 – Trump renominates Plankey to lead CISA
2026-01-21 – Acting CISA chief defends workforce cuts, declares agency ‘back on mission’
2026-01-27 – Trump’s acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT
2026-02-10 – OMB Rescinds Biden-Era Software Security Requirements, Directs Agency-Led and Risk-Based Approach
2026-02-25 – US cybersecurity agency CISA reportedly in dire shape amid Trump cuts and layoffs
2026-02-26 – Two senior CISA officials reassigned after earlier attempted ouster
2026-02-27 – Gottumukkala Moves to New DHS Role, Andersen Named Acting CISA Director
2026-02-28 – Canceled contracts, a failed polygraph and personal disputes: Inside the turbulent tenure of Noem’s former cyber czar
2026-03-03 – The lead U.S. cyber agency is stretched thin as Iran hacking threat escalates
2026-03-06 – Trump’s CISA Nominee Sean Plankey Departs DHS Coast Guard Advisory Post Amid Senate Confirmation Limbo
2026-03-06 – Mullin’s appointment to lead DHS raises questions about future of CISA
2026-04-03 – Trump budget proposal would cut hundreds of millions more from CISA
2026-04-07 – Trump proposes cutting CISA election security program in FY27 budget
2026-04-07 – CISA’s vulnerability scans, field support on chopping block in Trump budget
2026-04-22 – Trump’s pick to lead CISA withdraws nomination after months of political impasse
2026-04-28 – Federal drawdown of election support ‘destroyed’ ongoing relationships, experts say
2026-04-29 – CISA cyber partnerships face ‘standstill’ amid cuts
2026-05-07 – Warner Warns of CISA Election Security Cuts Ahead of Midterms
2026-05-18 – ‘The Worst Leak That I’ve Witnessed’: U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Leaves Its Digital Keys Out in Public on GitHub
2026-05-19 – Senator requests classified briefing on CISA credentials leak
2026-05-21 – Restoring CISA is one issue many lawmakers can agree on
Conclusion
The U.S. is losing the cyberwar to ourselves.
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