This week it was reported The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is in dire shapeafter a year of cuts, layoffs, and furloughs under the Trump administration. Now the agency has replaced its top acting leader, a CISA spokesperson told TechCrunch.

The move to replace Madhu Gottumukkala as acting director of CISA, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security that oversees cybersecurity and technical protection across the federal government, comes after a tumultuous year serving as the agency’s top boss.

Gottumukkala struggled to lead the agency during his tenure as acting director and cause security headacheincluding uploading sensitive government documents to ChatGPT, according to reports. Agency staff are slashed by one third. Gottumukkala is also reported to have failed a counterintelligence polygraph he took to view classified documents, and suspended several career officials in response, including the agency’s chief security officer.

Before being nominated by CISA as deputy director, Gottumukkala was South Dakota’s chief technology officer under governor and current Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

ABC News was the first to report Gottumukkala’s departure.

In a statement shared with TechCrunch on Friday, CISA spokeswoman Marci McCarthy said Gottumukkala did an “exceptional job.” McCarthy told TechCrunch that Nick Andersen will replace Gottumukkala as CISA’s new acting director, and that Gottumukkala has been moved to a new position as director of strategic implementation at the Department of Homeland Security, which houses CISA.

Before his appointment as acting director to lead CISA, Andersen served as the agency’s top official in charge of its cybersecurity division.

The agency has not had a permanent director confirmed by the Senate since Trump returned to office.

McCarthy said the Trump administration has chosen Sean Plankey to be the permanent director of the agency, which requires a majority vote of approval by the US Senate.

The White House Plankey was re-nominated to head CISA in Januaryafter Sen. Ron Wyden last year blocked Plankey’s nomination until the agency agreed to release an unclassified report it said described cybersecurity flaws at the phone and telecommunications giants. Wyden demanded the release of the report in the wake of hundreds of hacks targeting US and international telephone and internet providers by the China-backed hacking group known as Salt Typhoon. The Senate has not yet scheduled a hearing on Plankey’s nomination.

next gov reported Thursday that CISA has lost another top official, Bob Costello, the agency’s chief information officer tasked with overseeing the agency’s IT systems and data policies. The news outlet reported that Gottumukkala tried to move Costello but was blocked by unnamed political appointees.

CISA spokesperson McCarthy did not comment on Costello’s departure when asked by TechCrunch, but did not dispute the report.