'Forced access, then abused it': Trump's Indian-origin acting cyber chief uploaded sensitive files on ChatGPT

Madhu Gottumukkala reportedly “forced CISA's hand into making them give him ChatGPT, and then he abused it”.

Madhu Gottumukkala, the Indian-origin interim head of the United States' cyber defence agency, reportedly uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT last year, triggering multiple security warnings at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) office.

Indian-origin interim head of the US cyber defence agency uploaded sensitive files into a public version of ChatGPT (CISA)

Gottumukkala, as the acting director of CISA, had requested the agency's Office of the Chief Information Officer for special permission to use OpenAI's popular AI tool - ChatGPT, Politico reported. He reportedly made the request soon after arriving at the cyber defence agency in May 2025, three officials from the Department of Homeland Security were cited as saying.

At the time of Gottumukkala's request, the use of the AI app was blocked for other DHS employees.

The DHS officials stated that none of the files uploaded by the acting chief were classified, but that they comprised CISA contracting documents that were "for official use only" -- information that is sensitive and not for public release.

The uploads were reportedly flagged by CISA's cybersecurity sensors last August, with multiple such warnings being observed in the month's first week alone.

Following this, senior DHS officials conducted an internal enquiry to assess whether any harm to government security had resulted from the exposure.

What CISA said about Madhu Gottumukkala

CISA's director of public affairs, Marci McCarthy, said in a statement that Gottumukkala "was granted permission to use ChatGPT with DHS controls in place", adding that the use was, however, short-term and limited.

McCarthy further stated that CISA was committed to tapping into the potential of AI and other cutting-edge technologies to drive government modernisation and fulfil Trump's executive order of "removing barriers to America's leadership in AI".

"Acting Director Dr Madhu Gottumukkala last used ChatGPT in mid-July 2025 under an authorised temporary exception granted to some employees. CISA's security posture remains to block access to ChatGPT by default unless granted an exception," McCarthy's statement was cited by Politico.

Gottumukkala's move to upload the files to ChatGPT's public version obviously meant that those documents would be shared with the AI bot's owner, OpenAI. These files could now be used by the chatbot to help answer prompts from other users.

DHS employees also use the agency's self-built AI-powered chatbot named 'DHSChat'.

Gottumukkala "forced CISA's hand into making them give him ChatGPT, and then he abused it," one of the officials reportedly said.

All federal officials receive training on handling sensitive documents. According to DHS policy, security officials are also required to probe the "cause and affect" of any exposure of official documents, and ascertain the "appropriateness" of any administrative or disciplinary action.

Gottumukkala spoke with senior DHS officials after the uploads were detected and reviewed what he uploaded onto ChatGPT. Joseph Mazzara, the then-acting general counsel of DHS, was reportedly involved in the process of examining any potential harm to the department.

Madhu Gottumukkala has been serving as CISA's acting chief since May 2025, when he was appointed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as its deputy director.

This was not Gottumukkala's first security-related incident. This summer, at least six career staff were placed on leave after the Indian-origin cyber chief failed a counterintelligence polygraph exam that he pushed to undergo.

When asked if he was "aware" of the failed test, he told Rep Bennie Thompson that he did not "accept the premise of that characterisation".

Last week, Gottumukkala reportedly tried to remove Robert Costello, CISA’s chief information officer, before other political appointees at the agency blocked the move.