House members press Lutnick on DOGE-related work cuts at NIST

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Dive Brief:

    A group of 22 House members are raising alarm bells in a letter sent Wednesday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about current job cuts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a key national organization for developing best practices for security and emerging technologies, including AI. &nbsp,

  • The people, which include Rep. Zoe Lofgren, ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, urged Lutnick to reveal new cuts of 70 temporary workers at NIST as well as potential cuts to temporary scientists, post-doctoral researchers and others. The layoffs are part of an entire plan to cut about 20 % of the Department of Commerce labor.
  • ” Removing national and international leaders from the nonpartisan and professional legal service at NIST may hamper the development of essential standards, harm industrial and consumer protection and undermine American leadership around the world”, the House members wrote in the text 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. &nbsp,

The 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. &nbsp,

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

NIST officials have been working for years to of security vulnerabilities impacting the software industry. &nbsp,

NIST previously released the , which is widely used by organizations to set internal standards to manage cyber risk. &nbsp,

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

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

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