Dive Brief:

• A group of 22 House members are raising alarm bells in a letter sent Wednesday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about recent job cuts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a key federal agency for developing best practices for cybersecurity and emerging technologies, including AI. 
• The members, which include Rep. Zoe Lofgren, ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, urged Lutnick to explain recent cuts of 70 probationary workers at NIST as well as potential cuts to probationary scientists, post-doctoral researchers and others. The firings are part of an overall plan to cut about 20% of the Department of Commerce workforce.
• “Removing national and international leaders from the nonpartisan and professional civil service at NIST would hamper the development of critical standards, threaten industrial and consumer safety and weaken American leadership around the world,” the House members wrote in the letter to Lutnick.

Dive Insight:

The House letter regarding NIST comes amid larger concerns about massive cuts of federal workers, particularly those working in cybersecurity and other emerging technologies. The job cuts were conducted by Department of Government Efficiency, a government initiative aimed at reducing fraud, waste and abuse in federal spending. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has already seen at least 170 jobs cut as part of a larger wave of reductions at the Department of Homeland Security. Other workers have resigned from the agency, as working conditions and morale have deteriorated over recent weeks. 

NIST plays a critical role in vulnerability management and standards in the cybersecurity industry. 

NIST officials have been working for years to clear a long-standing backlog of security vulnerabilities impacting the software industry. 

NIST previously released the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, which is widely used by organizations to set internal standards to manage cyber risk. 

The Trump administration is also planning to withhold funding for 10 of 51 centers in a NIST program called the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which helps small-and medium-sized organizations become more efficient, test new technologies and adopt stronger cyber practices. 

The Coalition to Reduce Cyber Risk joined with other technology organizations in early March to ask Lutnick to prioritize funding in several key areas, including AI.