February 12, 2026
Cyber meltdown, hold my popcorn
America's Cyber Defense Agency Is Burning Down and Nobody's Coming to Put It Out
Chatbot-gate, polygraph fails, and a mass exodus — the internet smells sabotage
TLDR: A report claims CISA’s acting chief put sensitive files into public ChatGPT and failed a polygraph as the agency shed a third of its staff. Comments split between “sabotage” and “bureaucratic mismanagement,” with memes flying and real worry about who’s guarding power, water, and voting systems.
Security folks are in full meltdown over a bombshell report claiming the acting boss of CISA — the U.S. cyber defense agency — pasted sensitive “For Official Use Only” docs into public ChatGPT and later flunked a counterintelligence polygraph. The article says alarms went off, staff got sidelined, and a thousand people left the agency. Commenters are lighting torches. One camp screams intentional sabotage, with users echoing Alex Stamos’s doom vibe on TWiT about a “complete surrender” in cyber. Another camp blames boring-but-brutal bureaucracy: hostile policies, bad management, and a reshuffle that traded experts for newcomers. The popcorn moment: folks clowning the idea of America’s cyber guardian doing the classic “don’t paste secrets into the chatbot” mistake — calling it “Copy-PasteGPT.” Meanwhile, a practical thread asks about “living off the land,” the stealthy hacker move of using built‑in system tools (like remote admin and scheduled tasks) so they look like normal activity. The mood is grim, the memes are sharp, and the disagreements are spicy. Some point to politics; others say this is just what happens when you hollow out an agency meant to keep water, power, and voting systems safe. Either way, the internet thinks the fire alarm is already ringing.
Key Points
- •The article alleges acting CISA director Madhu Gottumukkala uploaded at least four FOUO documents to public ChatGPT, which triggered automated security alerts.
- •It claims Gottumukkala failed a counterintelligence polygraph in June 2025, later described by DHS as unsanctioned, leading to at least six career staff being placed on leave.
- •CISA’s workforce allegedly shrank from about 3,400 to roughly 2,400 in 2025, with major losses among division and regional leaders.
- •On February 11, Gottumukkala reportedly told House appropriators that 70 CISA staff were reassigned to other DHS offices and about 30 employees were received from other components.
- •Errol Weiss of H-ISAC is quoted saying CISA’s mechanisms to support critical infrastructure partners have been hollowed out; Sean Plankey has been nominated to lead CISA since March 2025.