The interim chief of the nation’s top #cyber defense agency
had convinced many people he was not up to the task long before his sudden reassignment late Thursday.

But the one person who mattered most
— Department of Homeland Security Secretary #Kristi #Noem
— stood firm on keeping him in place.

In his roughly nine months as acting director of the "Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency",
#Madhu #Gottumukkala made a series of decisions that alienated career staff,
created friction with Trump appointees
and provoked scrutiny from influential lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Nine current and four former cyber officials who spoke with POLITICO over the last several weeks said his tenure was so chaotic that it was hampering the agency’s core mission:
protecting sensitive government networks from a crush of cyberattacks.

All were granted anonymity for fear of retribution.

The frustration with Gottumukkala was shared by several administration officials,
two of whom told Noem as far back as November that Gottumukkala should not be in charge at #CISA,
according to three current cybersecurity officials with knowledge of those conversations.

But Noem was hesitant to remove Gottumukkala until recently
because she and DHS special adviser #Corey #Lewandowski
— Donald Trump’s former campaign manager
— feared it would reflect poorly on her,
as she was already facing immense pressure over DHS’s immigration crackdown and other issues,
two of those three officials said.

Noem’s reversal comes just days before a long-awaited Tuesday appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee,
where she is expected to face tough questions from lawmakers in both parties.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/28/cisa-cyber-leadership-madhu-gottumukkala-00804515

Y’all! Personal friend of Kristy PuppyKiller #Noem, a completely unqualified #infosec wannabe, who couldn’t pass pen testeing, or a polygraph saying he didn’t want to sell data; the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (#CISA), Madhu #Gottumukkala, uploaded sensitive information to a public version of #ChatGPT, because of course he fucking did.

The info leaked was marked “for official use only.” That designation is used within #DHS to identify information of a sensitive nature that, if shared, could adversely impact a person’s privacy or welfare or impede how federal and other programs essential to the national interest operate.

There’s now a concern that the sensitive info could be used to answer prompts from any of ChatGPT’s 700 million users. Critics have questioned whether Gottumukkala knows what he’s doing.

Gee, ya think?

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/us-cyber-defense-chief-accidentally-uploaded-secret-government-info-to-chatgpt/

US #cyber defense chief accidentally uploaded #secret government info to #ChatGPT

Alarming critics, the acting director of the #Cybersecurity and #Infrastructure #Security Agency ( #CISA ), Madhu #Gottumukkala , accidentally uploaded sensitive information to a public version of ChatGPT last summer, Politico reported.
#ai #privacy #security

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/us-cyber-defense-chief-accidentally-uploaded-secret-government-info-to-chatgpt/