Acting CISA chief sought ouster of agency’s chief information officer

Acting CISA chief sought ouster of agency’s chief information officer

John Sakellariadis

Mon, January 19, 2026 at 1:00 AM UTC

3 min read

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The acting head of the country’s civilian cyber defense agency took steps last Thursday to remove the agency’s chief information officer — but was blocked after other political appointees at the department objected, according to three officials with knowledge of the matter.

The attempted ouster of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's CIO, Robert Costello, comes as CISA’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, already faces questions inside the agency about his decision-making.

Both career staff and even fellow Trump appointees first grew alarmed about Gottumukkala, the former CIO of South Dakota, over his handling of a failed polygraph exam in July, as POLITICO first reported. At least six career staff who helped schedule the test were suspended with pay after the exam, which DHS has characterized as “unsanctioned.”

The personnel spat began late last Thursday afternoon after Costello was given a so-called management-directed reassignment, meaning he had roughly one week to decide whether to move to another part of the Department of Homeland Security — which houses CISA — or resign, said the people. All three were granted anonymity for fear of retribution.

Other senior political appointees at the department, including Nick Anderson, CISA’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity, were not given a heads-up about the decision and were not happy with it, said the people.

They immediately “raised hell” and questioned the justification for Costello’s surprise ejection from the agency, said the first of the three officials.

DHS headquarters decided to pause and then fully stop Costello’s reassignment before the end of the day Friday, added the three officials.

In a statement, CISA’s Director for Public Affairs Marci McCarthy said that while CISA does not comment on specific personnel decisions or discussions, the agency “can clarify that senior personnel decisions are made at the highest levels at the Department of Homeland Security’s Headquarters and are not made in a vacuum, independently by one individual, or on a whim.”

She added: “CISA remains committed to transparency, accountability, and the highest standards of leadership within our organization. We discourage reporting based on inaccurate or incomplete information provided by disgruntled individuals at CISA who are upset that accountability and reform have come to the agency."

Each of the three people said that Gottumukkala directly approved the move. His motivations aren’t entirely clear.

The second and third officials said there was some friction because Costello frequently pushed back against Gottumukkala on policy matters. The first and the second specified that they had disagreements over contracting decisions at CISA. All three praised Costello’s integrity and performance.

Another former senior DHS official with knowledge of fallout at CISA last week said the effort to remove Costello was particularly alarming to CISA staff because Costello is seen as one of the agency’s top remaining technical talents. Roughly 1,000 people — or one third of CISA’s staff — have left CISA in the last year due to the Trump administration’s workforce cuts.

Right now, “the fear is high at CISA,” that former official said. “It’s insane.”

Costello, an Air Force veteran who previously held senior IT roles at Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been CISA’s CIO for more than four years, according to his LinkedIn.

Costello, Anderson, and Gottumukkala did not reply to requests for comment.

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