IC Technology & Surveillance — 2026-05-05

CISA Unveils CI Fortify Initiative to Secure Critical Infrastructure During Conflicts

CISA on May 5 released CI Fortify, an initiative directing critical infrastructure operators across all sectors to develop isolation and recovery capabilities, with acting Director Nick Andersen calling on organizations to begin investing now. The guidance instructs operators to assume that third-party connections, including telecommunications, internet vendors, and service providers, will be unreliable during a conflict scenario and to plan for operating disconnected for weeks to months. Cybersecurity Dive reported the initiative is modeled on advice the Australian government published in 2025. Andersen told reporters a pilot assessment phase is already underway, and CISA said the administration has approved 329 new hires to scale the program across sectors.

Analysis
CI Fortify marks a shift from perimeter defense to assured survivability, with the weeks-to-months isolation target implicitly conceding that current cross-sector interdependencies are indefensible in a high-end conflict. Modeling the initiative on 2025 Australian guidance signals Five Eyes convergence on adversary pre-positioning in telecommunications infrastructure, corroborated across three independent outlets. The 329 approved hires confirm administration backing, but voluntary enrollment is the controlling variable. The conflict-scenario framing and staffing announcement may instead be domestic leverage to secure long-resisted hiring authority rather than a response to a revised threat picture. Whether enrollment reaches 50 entities by end of Q3 2026 cannot be estimated; no uptake figures or voluntary-program baselines exist to anchor a forecast.

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