Feds Take Their Ball and Go Home From RSAC Conference
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In a petulant act worthy of a disturbed adolescent, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and in fact most of the Federal agencies involved in cyber have pulled out of their long-standing participation in the RSAC Conference. It seems they are very, very upset about the appointment of Jen Easterly as CEO of RSAC and, like any bully in the schoolyard, have taken their ball and are going home. Rumor has it, they are not even eating dinner at the family table and will remain in their rooms playing video games during RSAC this year.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I reported about two weeks ago that RSAC appointed long-time cyber community leader Jen Easterly as its new CEO. If you need the background, you can read my earlier piece on Security Boulevard, “<a href="https://securityboulevard.com/2026/01/rsac-stands-tall-appointing-a-true-leader-jen-easterly-as-ceo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RSAC Stands Tall Appointing a True Leader, Jen Easterly as CEO</a>.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">It lays out exactly why this appointment made sense for the community, the industry, and frankly for anyone serious about cybersecurity.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Easterly is not some lightweight parachuted in for optics. She’s a West Point graduate. She spent roughly two decades in the U.S. Army. She’s held senior roles in private industry. And most recently, she served as Director of CISA itself. Her removal from that role, widely reported at the time, appeared to many observers to be politically motivated. Her subsequent removal from her West Point chairmanship also struck many as politically driven. I’ll be precise here, because words matter: those characterizations are based on public reporting and reasonable interpretation, not inside knowledge. That’s your legal safety rail right there.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, in what looks like yet another politically charged move that manages to shoot the messenger, the message, and the foot (or another body part) all at once, CISA has announced it will not attend or participate in RSAC.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And according to reporting in The Register, CISA isn’t alone. The National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, both long-time RSAC participants, are also staying home. Again, this is not speculation. This is straight reporting.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As The Register noted, “the FBI and NSA sessions and speakers have also disappeared from the cybersecurity conference’s agenda.” Among the vanished sessions were a behind-the-scenes look at joint FBI, NSA, and private-sector operations targeting Chinese espionage against U.S. critical infrastructure, an FBI cyber warfare talk, and a multi-agent panel on how organizations can engage with the FBI and develop an incident response plan.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Let that sink in. Those weren’t marketing fluff sessions. Those were exactly the kinds of discussions that raise collective awareness, improve readiness, and help organizations understand how to work with government when things go sideways. Gone. Because feelings were hurt.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I guess this is what it has come to.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a parent, I’ve seen this kind of behavior before. Slammed doors. Arms crossed. Stamping feet. “I’m not going.” Thank God my kids grew out of it. Apparently, some parts of our federal cyber apparatus have not. And let’s not pretend this is an isolated incident. We’ve all watched childish retribution play out in other corners of this administration. This is just the latest example of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now let’s move past the sarcasm for a moment and talk about who actually gets hurt here.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We all do.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">RSAC isn’t just another trade show. It’s the largest cybersecurity conference in the world. It’s where industry gathers to share, learn, educate, debate, argue, collaborate, and yes, recruit. Over the years, I’ve spoken with plenty of friends inside the NSA and FBI who value these conferences enormously. They learn what’s happening in the private sector. They see emerging technologies up close. They build trust. They recruit the talent they desperately need.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And the industry benefits just as much. Practitioners gain insight into how government thinks, how investigations work, and what collaboration actually looks like when the worst happens. Those hallway conversations, those off-agenda discussions, those candid exchanges don’t show up on conference schedules, but they matter more than most keynote speeches ever will.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I talked about this recently on an episode of the <a href="https://techstrong.tv/videos/still-cyber-after-all-these-years/still-cyber-podcast-kate-scarcella-on-the-future-of-government-industry-collaboration-in-cybersecurity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Still Cyber podcast with Mitch Ashley and Kate Scarcella. </a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Government–industry collaboration isn’t a “nice to have.” It raises readiness across critical infrastructure. It reduces blind spots. It strengthens our collective defense. When that collaboration weakens, our entire attack surface suffers.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To be clear, the feds are free to attend or skip whatever conferences they choose. No one is arguing otherwise. But pulling out of RSAC because you’re angry about who sits in the CEO chair doesn’t look principled. It looks small. It looks emotional. And it raises uncomfortable questions about whether the public’s well-being is really the top priority, or whether this is just another tit-for-tat schoolyard stunt.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here is what will happen, I think. The industry will adapt. It always does. New alliances will form. New channels for sharing will emerge. Nature abhors a vacuum. But make no mistake, we are all worse off in the meantime.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">RSAC leadership almost certainly understood that appointing Jen Easterly could provoke exactly this kind of reaction. And they did it anyway. That’s called leadership. Kudos to them for refusing to bend to what sure feels like political blackmail dressed up as principle.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This moment creates an opportunity. RSAC can help fill the gap, strengthen community ties, and continue pushing the industry forward. Maybe, at some later date, with a bit more maturity and perspective (or a new administration), parts of the federal cyber establishment will rejoin the conversation.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As for me, I’ll be at RSAC. I’ll be presenting. Techstrong will be running our all-day Securing AI Native Dev seminar on Monday. I’ll be speaking again on Thursday. We’ll be on Broadcast Alley, streaming live all week. If you <a href="https://www.rsaconference.com/usa?utm_source=mb-techstrong&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=textad-us2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">want to attend</a>, ask me how, or head to <a href="https://techstrongevents.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://techstrongevents.com</a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We should all show up in San Francisco loud and proud (perhaps with a “flower in your hair” like the song says). The message should be unmistakable.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Childish temper tantrums have no place in the serious business of cybersecurity.</span></p><div class="spu-placeholder" style="display:none"></div><div class="addtoany_share_save_container addtoany_content addtoany_content_bottom"><div class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_20 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://securityboulevard.com/2026/01/feds-take-their-ball-and-go-home-from-rsac-conference/" data-a2a-title="Feds Take Their Ball and Go Home From RSAC Conference"><a class="a2a_button_twitter" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/twitter?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Ffeds-take-their-ball-and-go-home-from-rsac-conference%2F&linkname=Feds%20Take%20Their%20Ball%20and%20Go%20Home%20From%20RSAC%20Conference" title="Twitter" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/linkedin?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Ffeds-take-their-ball-and-go-home-from-rsac-conference%2F&linkname=Feds%20Take%20Their%20Ball%20and%20Go%20Home%20From%20RSAC%20Conference" title="LinkedIn" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/facebook?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Ffeds-take-their-ball-and-go-home-from-rsac-conference%2F&linkname=Feds%20Take%20Their%20Ball%20and%20Go%20Home%20From%20RSAC%20Conference" title="Facebook" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_reddit" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/reddit?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Ffeds-take-their-ball-and-go-home-from-rsac-conference%2F&linkname=Feds%20Take%20Their%20Ball%20and%20Go%20Home%20From%20RSAC%20Conference" title="Reddit" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_button_email" href="https://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=https%3A%2F%2Fsecurityboulevard.com%2F2026%2F01%2Ffeds-take-their-ball-and-go-home-from-rsac-conference%2F&linkname=Feds%20Take%20Their%20Ball%20and%20Go%20Home%20From%20RSAC%20Conference" title="Email" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"></a><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share"></a></div></div>