President Trump hobbled top cyber agency just as AI learned to hack

The U.S. government's lead civilian cyber agency is heading into the AI era with shrinking resources and a diminished role as Washington scrambles to assemble a multi-agency response to emerging AI cyber threats. Former officials and industry leaders fear the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency no longer has the capacity to help utilities, banks, and other critical infrastructure operators prepare for a coming wave of AI-fueled cyberattacks. The agency is at its weakest just when it's needed most, as the government braces for AI models like Anthropic's Mythos to supercharge cyberattacks. Created in 2018 during President Trump's first administration, CISA oversees efforts to protect federal systems and U.S. critical infrastructure like the power grid and water utilities from hackers. Since the beginning of 2025, the agency has lost roughly a third of its workforce through buyouts and budget cuts. President Trump's budget for next year proposed cutting as much as $707 million and another quarter of the staff—as many as 766 full-time employees.