For the Department of Defense, or the Department of War as it has been rebranded by the Trump administration, its contingency plan designates intelligence work that directly supports active military operations, threat monitoring, or other national security emergencies as excepted and will continue uninterrupted if funding lapses.
“Command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities” remain excepted functions, the DoD says, including the use of spying capabilities tied to telecommunications infrastructure, which the National Security Agency often uses to intercept phone calls and other communications. Most intel agencies, such as the NSA, do not submit publicly available contingency plans.
The impact on cyber workers is hard to predict
Given that cybersecurity professionals are scattered throughout the government, the effect on their overall employment during a shutdown is hard to track or predict. CTA’s Daniel thinks that most cybersecurity workers will be exempt from furloughs.