Acting CISA chief uploaded 'for official use only' documents to ChatGPT, report says

The acting head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Madhu Gottumukkala, appointed by Trump, uploaded sensitive contracting documents marked "for official use only" to ChatGPT, Politico reported Tuesday, January 28, 2026. Officials told Politico that Gottumukkala's uploads triggered multiple automated security warnings designed to prevent the theft or inadvertent disclosure of government files from federal networks.

The report says he had been granted an exception to use ChatGPT earlier in his tenure while other employees were prohibited. The Department of Homeland Security sought to determine whether the uploads harmed government security, according to the report. Politico noted that uploading unclassified but internal government documents to a public large language model can allow the model to train on that information and potentially expose it to other users.

A CISA spokesperson told Politico that Gottumukkala's use of ChatGPT was "short-term and limited." The report also says that before joining CISA he served as chief information officer of South Dakota under then-governor Kristi Noem. Politico reported that Gottumukkala reportedly failed a counterintelligence polygraph after his appointment, which Homeland Security later called "unsanctioned," and that six career CISA staff were suspended from accessing classified information.

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