CISA Replaces Bumbling Acting Director After a Year (techcrunch.com) 26
New submitter DeanonymizedCoward shares a report from TechCrunch: The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is reportedly in crisis following major budget cuts, layoffs, and furloughs under the Trump administration, says TechCrunch. The agency has now replaced its acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, after a turbulent year marked by controversy and internal turmoil. During his tenure, Gottumukkala allegedly mishandled sensitive information by uploading government documents to ChatGPT, oversaw a one-third reduction in staff, and reportedly failed a counterintelligence polygraph needed for classified access. His leadership also saw the suspension of several senior officials, including CISA's chief security officer. Nextgov also reported that CISA lost another top senior official, Bob Costello, the agency's chief information officer tasked with overseeing the agency's IT systems and data policies. "Last month, CISA's acting director Madhu Gottumukkala reportedly took steps to transfer Costello, but other political appointees blocked it," added Nextgov.
failed a polygraph needed for classified access (Score:3)
Re:failed a polygraph needed for classified access (Score:5, Informative)
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Bullshit or not have any of the previous CISA directors not been able to meet the requirements? I don't think the polygraph requirement has changed and it's used all over, seems like a low bar, which is probably actually the point of it.
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It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. They met the requirements because they passed the silly test.
Re:failed a polygraph needed for classified access (Score:4, Insightful)
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Yeah it's bullshit but is a normal part of intelligence life, and it's largely a republican handout and authoritian fantasy that keeps it alive in government to begin with.
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Polygraph tests for nervousness not truth. It says the director of CISA cannot pressure which is bad.
Yes. Polys are not submersible as criminal evidence, and they can be gamed, but they can show some trends. The skill of the operator can help as well.
But if you return to a subject, - they always do in different forms - and the person taking the poly continues to show nervousness, you can surmise that there might be a reason for that.
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It's a requirement for some federal agencies.
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Polygraph does what it's supposed to and scares guys like this guy while making money for government grift contractors.
People don't really fail, they just start acting like Prince Andrew talking about how he can't sweat and the interrogator notes that he appears to be lying.
Unless you have the kind of anxiety problems that would probably keep you out of this sort of political kejiggering to begin with, you're not gonna fucking fail the test.
So there was a danger of them interfering (Score:3)
For years I wondered why Trump got away with ripping off Rich people. Poor people I get you can rip as many of those off as you want. But he ripped off some rich people normally you go to prison for that.
And sure Trump was heavily involved with Jeffrey Epstein so he probably had some scary dirt.
But more and more I'm starting to think that he was an intelligence asset and that's why he was allowed to swim. It would explain why the Russians laundered so much money through him.
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But, what would he be doing differently if he were a Russian agent? Maybe this opening will give him an opportunity to directly appoint a Russian to manage the government's IT security.
Asset is not a spy; but can simply be a rube (Score:3)
Anybody you can exploit is an asset. Trump is the greatest asset in the US government, possibly of all time. Huuuge!
They shutdown cyber operations against Russia, the extra protections/monitoring, fired everybody related to investigating Russian agents; at a time when they already lacked enough agents to even keep up with the flood of known agents in the USA that has been going on for 2 decades! He couldn't be doing more for Russia than he has been doing without patriots on his own side taking shots at him
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When I was just a young man in the military I saw how weak powerful people were in this country. I saw an E-2 blackmail multiple officers over their whorehouse behavior. As I got older I often worried about the implications of what I'd witnessed.
I also thing this vulnerability is generally widespread among leadership in our society.
Then Epstein happened.
The people in charge have failed us deeply and I think this pretty much any time I see any kind of "leader" now be he on C-SPAN or at work.
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We could solve the drug problem and the sex problems. But so many people NEED those problems to exist! Way too many fighting the cures and the majority being average and below average can't solve a mildly complex problem with a few % working hard against it.
Epstein was an Israeli asset. Extremely likely. It's been kept out of discussion but 2 women fingered a former Israeli PM aside from the strong ties the man and his partner had. You blackmail a PM of the most powerful spy operation on earth (including
It's called a useful idiot (Score:3)
Somebody who can coordinate sex parties with underaged girls for billionaires would be extremely useful. Lots and lots of compromat.
One of the things the ultra wealthy do is they create embarrassing situations for each other so that they can all take each other down. It creates solidarity. If you've ever seen those pictures of rich kids from ivy League schools putting their dicks in pigs mouths that's what those are for. Th
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The idea of Donald Trump being an intelligence asset is oxymoronic.
Back this up with anything other than "TDS" please.
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He'd certainly fail the ICE paper bag test. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Elections are coming up (Score:2)
And the last CISA chief Trump had didn't go along with Trump's election fraud fantasies.
That just won't do this time.
Noem Lackey with Zero Experience in Intelligence (Score:2, Insightful)
- 2000-2014 - worked in private sector.
- August 2024 - appointed South Dakota state chief technology officer by governor Kristi Noem.
- January 2025 - Trump term #2 begins. Kristi Noem becomes Secretary of Homeland Security
- April 2025 - appointed by Kristi Noem as acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
- July 2025 - uploads data that is not for public release into ChatGPT after receiving an exception to use ChatGPT.
- July 2025 - lots
ONE bumbler down (Score:2)
7231 still to go.