This week it was reported that U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is in dire shape, after a year of cuts, layoffs, and furloughs under the Trump administration. Now the agency has replaced its top acting leader, a CISA spokesperson tells TechCrunch.
The move to replace Madhu Gottumukkala as the acting director of CISA, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security that oversees cybersecurity and technical protection across the federal government, comes after a tumultuous year serving as the agency’s top boss.
Gottumukkala struggled to lead the agency during his tenure as acting director and caused security headaches, including the uploading of sensitive government documents to ChatGPT, according to reports. Staffing at the agency was slashed by one-third. Gottumukkala also reportedly failed a counterintelligence polygraph he took in order to view classified documents, and suspended several career officials in response, including the agency’s then-chief security officer.
Before being nominated to CISA as deputy director, Gottumukkala was chief technology officer of South Dakota under then-governor and current Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.
ABC News was first to report Gottumukkala’s departure.
In a statement shared with TechCrunch on Friday, CISA spokesperson Marci McCarthy claimed Gottumukkala had done a “remarkable job.” McCarthy told TechCrunch that Nick Andersen will replace Gottumukkala as CISA’s new acting director, and that Gottumukkala has been moved to a new position as director of strategic implementation in the Department of Homeland Security, which houses CISA.
Prior to his appointment as acting director to lead CISA, Andersen previously served as the agency’s top official overseeing its cybersecurity division.
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