At least six career staffers and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) allegedly organized a polygraph test for the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, this summer. He failed and then began suspending employees left and right.
The reliability of the polygraph test is, of course, highly contested. Still, polygraphs are widely used across the Pentagon and US spy community to ferret out those whose foreign connections or personal liabilities could threaten the government’s most sensitive information.
But what Gottumukkala, a Donald Trump appointee, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found troublesome was not the fact that Gottumukkala failed the test but rather that the examination was unsanctioned.
According to POLITICO, the DHS opened an investigation into whether the staff provided “false information” about the need for the test, which was scheduled after Gottumukkala sought access to highly sensitive cyber intelligence shared with CISA.
At least six career staffers were suspended with pay, angering other CISA employees and raising questions about what Gottumukkala’s priorities while heading the agency actually were.
“Instead of taking ownership and saying, ‘Hey, I screwed up,’ he gets other people blamed and potentially ruins their careers,” a current official, who described Gottumukkala’s tenure at CISA so far as “a nightmare,” told POLITICO.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, though, said the test was unsanctioned and coordinated by staff members who allegedly misled incoming CISA leadership.
“We expect and require the highest standards of performance from our employees and hold them directly accountable to uphold all policies and procedures. Gottumukkala has the complete and full support of the Secretary and is laser-focused on returning the agency to its statutory mission,” said McLaughlin.
Still, she also explained that “random bureaucrats” can’t just order a polygraph test, even though those who did organize for Gottumukkala are believed to be senior career staffers.
Gottumukkala is of the MAGA world that famously sees insubordination everywhere and usually retributes viciously.
Plus, it’s safe to say Gottumukkala is of the MAGA world that famously sees insubordination everywhere and usually retributes viciously.
He previously worked as a senior IT official in South Dakota under Trump devotee Kristi Noem, and when she became Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, he was appointed CISA’s deputy director.
Gottumukkala is currently the most senior official at CISA and also holds the title of acting director, as Sean Plankey, Trump’s pick to lead the agency, has not yet been confirmed. This worries many.
“How is failing a polygraph not a concern” a current agency official said to POLITICO, when he’s “supposed to be leading a national security agency?”
Another official called the allegation from the DHS that the test was unsanctioned “comical.”
CISA has had a turbulent year. Former director of the agency Jen Easterly stepped down in January, and it has experienced sweeping personnel and budget cuts under President Trump, with nearly a third of its staff having left the agency in 2025.
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