CISA works to contact probationary employees for reinstatement after court order

The nation’s premier cybersecurity agency is trying to contact certain employees affected by layoffs based on their employment status after federal judges ruled last week that the Trump administration must reinstate workers it fired in the last month after the terminations were deemed unlawful.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency “is making every effort to individually contact all impacted individuals,” the DHS agency put on its homepage Monday, adding that those who believe they fall under the order’s parameters and have not yet been contacted should email the agency with a password-protected attachment that includes identifying information, dates of employment and any termination notices sent to them. 

The termination reversals focus on probationary employees — those who typically have been hired within the last one or two years.

“To the extent that you are identified as an individual whose termination falls within the Court’s order, your employment will be reinstated effective March 17, 2025. Upon your reinstatement, you will be placed on administrative leave, which is a paid non-duty status,” the CISA notice added.

Trump officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have vowed to downsize CISA amid complaints that the cyber agency’s effort to taper online disinformation have targeted conservative voices. CISA was stood up in Trump’s first term. Its former leader, Chris Krebs, was fired by Trump after Krebs declared that the 2020 presidential election was secure.

Among the many staffers cut from CISA since Jan. 20, several were hired under a new Cybersecurity Talent Management System program, which was designed to lure top technical talent from the private sector by offering them comparatively higher salaries. Those new hires, coupled with the relatively young age of the agency, made CISA a prime target for reductions because of the agency’s hefty volume of probationary hires. Other personnel affected included election security workers. 

The White House has urged federal agencies to avoid laying off cybersecurity teams, citing their role in national security, according to an email from U.S. federal CIO Greg Barbaccia reported by Reuters last week.

Rob Joyce — who led the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity division for three years under the Biden administration — said in a hearing earlier this month he has “grave concerns” that the “aggressive threats to cut U.S. government probationary employees will have a devastating impact on the cybersecurity and our national security.”