NSA cybersecurity Rob Joyce testifies to Congress in 2021 (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The former leader of the National Security Agency’s unit dedicated to cracking foreign computer systems warned lawmakers today that the potential mass firings of probationary federal employees would have bleak consequences for the country’s cybersecurity posture, especially when contending with malicious cyber activity from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
“I want to raise my grave concerns that the aggressive threats to cut US government probationary employees will have a devastating impact on [US] cybersecurity and our national security,” Rob Joyce, former director of cybersecurity at the NSA and ex-chief of the agency’s elite Tailored Access Operations unit, told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
“At my former agency, remarkable technical talent was recruited into developmental programs that provided intensive, unique training and hands-on experience to cultivate vital skills,” Joyce said. “Eliminating probationary employees will destroy a pipeline of top talent essential for hunting and eradicating PRC threats.”
In line with efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseen by billionaire Elon Musk, the Trump administration previously ordered a vast swath of probationary employees across several federal government agencies be let go, before apparently pulling back on that directive Monday after a federal judge froze the original order. While the National Security Agency and its military counterpart, US Cyber Command, did not immediately respond to Breaking Defense’s request for comment on the status of probationary employees at their respective organizations, the firings already hit another cybersecurity entity, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under the Department of Homeland Security, where 130 employees were let go, according to CBS News. The White House National Security Council also did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report.
At today’s hearing, Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, echoed Joyce’s animosity toward the mass firings, saying that “the recent efforts by the Trump administration and DOGE to reduce the number of government employees actively working on our cyber security defenses are not just misguided, they are dangerous.”
Also testifying was Laura Galante, the former director of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She specifically emphasized the vitality of CISA’s work in protecting the US cyber missions.
“The work that CISA does and the [cybersecurity] advisories that go out with numerous agency seals on them as a voice from the US government about what needs to be protected, have a powerful message to our allies and to other entities looking for advice on what they need to patch and do in their systems. It’s a critical function, and it’s something that CISA has made real strides in over the last several years,” she said.
“This will be a significant blow to the people who have come in over the last several years or who have waited on clearances sometimes upwards of a year or more to come in for technically important roles where training is limited on the outside and they’re doing core work to secure US networks,” she added.
Apart from the immediate national security concerns the firings pose, Joyce said they will have lasting effects on the national security community’s ability to recruit talent.
“Even if the positions are not eliminated, the pervasive uncertainty and doubt in the current environment is forcing them to seek secure opportunities for families outside national security — we need this talent to win in competition and conflict,” he said.
Today’s hearing coincided with an announcement by the Justice Department that the US government had charged 12 Chinese “contract hackers” with allegedly working at the behest of the Chinese government to break into several international targets including “foreign ministries of multiple governments in Asia, and U.S. federal and state government agencies, including the US Department of Treasury […] in late 2024.” (The Chinese government has consistently denied that it conducts hacking operations.)