Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin disclosed Sunday that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) shed approximately 1,100 employees over the course of this year's 76-day partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which began on February 14 and ended Thursday, stemmed from a Democratic push for federal immigration reform following the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota by federal immigration officers.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mullin highlighted severe morale problems across the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). “We are also having a tremendous amount of morale issue. So where we had a large turnover — just in CISA we're down 1,100 people,” he said. The shutdown has left DHS grappling with overdue bills, backlogs, and other disruptions, he added.
The staffing hemorrhage comes as President Trump's nominee to lead CISA, the nation's top cyber defense agency, withdrew his bid last month after waiting over a year for Senate confirmation. The agency's leadership vacuum compounds the operational strain.
Other DHS components are also feeling the pinch. Mullin noted that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) saw an 8 percent staffing shortfall, far exceeding its typical 4.6 percent turnover rate. “Then we have agencies that were almost completely furloughed,” he said, “and so now we're getting back up to speed.”
Lawmakers eventually passed a bill to fund DHS, but it excluded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). House Republicans are now weighing a reconciliation bill to fund those agencies for three years, though internal GOP divisions have stalled progress as Democrats remain at an impasse.
Despite the political standoff, Mullin said he is focused on keeping DHS staff motivated. “We're still going to do our mission. And thank goodness we have people that believe in our mission,” he said. “They're willing and wanting to come to work, because protecting the homeland, that's the greatest, that is literally the greatest mission inside this nation, we get to do is protect.”
The shutdown's fallout has broader implications for national security. For context, the partial DHS funding bill signed by Trump left ICE and CBP unfunded, while related legislative deadlines have added to the pressure on the administration.
