The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has canceled a major internship program for the 2026 summer season, dealing another blow to the government’s efforts to expand the cybersecurity workforce and attract talented professionals to federal service.
CISA said last December that it would offer paid summer internships through the government’s CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program to 100 undergraduate and graduate students. But over the past few days, CISA officials have informed CyberCorps students that because the Department of the Homeland Security remains shut down, their internships were being canceled, according to media outlets.
“Due to the CISA/DHS current situation we will be sifting [sic] our focus away from the SFS summer internships,” a CISA official told CyberCorps participants, according to an email reported by Federal News Network. “As of right now there will be no SFS summer interns.”
In a statement, a CISA spokesperson said the shutdown prevented the agency from accepting CyberCorps interns this summer.
“We are unable to offer Scholarship for Service (SFS) summer internship opportunities as long as the Department is shut down,” the spokesperson said, because CISA is “restricted to performing only the most basic tasks — those essential for safeguarding lives, property, or national security.”
CyberCorps, managed by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Personnel Management, is one of the country’s most prestigious cyber workforce development programs. In exchange for federally funded tuition and stipends, participants intern for federal agencies and then work for them for the same amount of time as their scholarship. Government and industry leaders have hailed the program as a key tool for fostering young people’s interest in cybersecurity, filling critical vacancies at federal agencies and addressing a serious nationwide talent shortage.
The cancellation of summer CyberCorps placements marks the latest turmoil in a previously stable and thriving program. In 2025, Trump administration budget cuts prompted agencies to rescind CyberCorps offers, jeopardizing the scholarships of students who, through no fault of their own, suddenly couldn’t meet the terms of their agreements.
The resulting uncertainty demoralized many CyberCorps participants, and experts worry that it will discourage others from applying to the program in the future. A Reddit post about the chaos, which described the program as “a financial and professional trap,” attracted multiple comments from people who said they were CyberCorps graduates facing the same employment anxieties.
The Clinton White House created the CyberCorps program as part of a broader cybersecurity initiative in early 2000. The program awarded its first grants the following year, with the first group of nine participants graduating and joining the government in 2002.
In announcing the 100 internship slots last December, CISA said they represented “a significant investment” in the agency’s “commitment to cybersecurity workforce development and national infrastructure resilience.” CISA’s acting director at the time, Madhu Gottumukkala, called CyberCorps “a cornerstone of our strategy to cultivate a robust pipeline of elite cybersecurity professionals who will protect the nation’s digital and physical frontiers.”
One recent email from CISA to CyberCorps participants, reported by Nextgov, acknowledged CISA’s recent unreliability in handling the scholarships.
“As of right now, there will be no SFS summer interns,” the email said. “I profusely apologize for the run-around this process has now given you two years in a row.”
