The 2026 NASCIO-Deloitte study put a number on the state CISO accountability gap.

2022: 48% "extremely or very confident" protecting public data.
2026: 22%.

Not a competence problem. Accountability expanded faster than authority.

78% cite 3rd-party breaches as top threat. 63% "not very confident" in local gov/higher ed cyber. 16% report budget cuts.

A role-design problem, playing out simultaneously across all 50 states.

#StateCISO #SLED