It’s unclear what led to DHS’s decision to end the contract after 25 years of funding the highly regarded program. The Trump administration, primarily through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, has been slashing government spending across the board, particularly at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), through which DHS funds the MITRE CVE program.

Although CISA has already been through two funding cuts, press reports suggest that nearly 40% of the agency’s staff, or around 1,300 employees, are still slated for termination. However, sources say that compared to the budget cuts made elsewhere in the federal government, the expense of running the CVE program are minor and “won’t break the bank.”