In a busy week for CISA, Plankey nears his confirmation as director, Easterly loses her appointment at West Point, and JCDC weathers huge staff cuts.
Seven months after President Trump’s second term began, the nation’s top cybersecurity agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) still does not have a permanent director. The transition from the previous director, Jen Easterly, has been long and contentious, complicated by the high staff turnover in the federal workforce at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and other initiatives to limit government spending. On March 11, 2025, Trump did make a nomination for the position, but other cybersecurity concerns have significantly delayed the confirmation process.
Sean Plankey, nominated to be the director of CISA, has several years of experience working in federal cybersecurity and previously worked as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response at the Department of Energy (DOE) from 2019 to 2020, during Trump’s first term. The nomination did not stir up much controversy, with even Easterly commending Plankey for the role on LinkedIn: “Congratulations to Sean Plankey, officially nominated for the #bestjobingovernment. Sean will bring great cyber expertise, private sector creds, a warrior spirit, and steady leadership to Team CISA. Excited for him and the team at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”
Plankey was set for a smooth road to confirmation for about a month, until Oregon Senator Ron Wyden (D) shared his plans to block the nomination in part of the fallout around the historic Salt Typhoon Hack. The intrusion, called the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history”, exposed the telecommunications metadata of an untold number of Americans and resulted in the text messages of high-ranking security officials and members of Congress being stolen. With the incident in the background, Senator Wyden shared his plan to put a hold on the position unless CISA publicly released their “U.S. Telecommunications Insecurity 2022” report - which has still not been published. Wyden’s move seemed to place the nomination at an impasse, until now.
On July 24, 2025, Sean Plankey had his hearing with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Plankey received “a largely warm reception” from the committee during the meeting, particularly from Republicans on the board. Like Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Plankey appears poised to move CISA from previous programs around the election and limiting misinformation - saying he’d like “to restore CISA to its congressional authorities and focus on the missions that you, this body, tasked it with, which is securing the federal executive branch and then securing the critical infrastructure of the United States,” at the conference.
Still, Plankey showed support for CISA’s funding, even with the latest budget cut leaving the agency $135 million lighter. He endorsed CISA’s State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, and said that would request more funding for the department if necessary: “no doubt, if I go to [Noem] and tell her, ‘we're driving in this direction to protect the American public,’ she'll work under the president's leadership to then work with Congress to get us the funds we need.”
Plankey continues to receive praise from government officials pushing for his instatement. Congressman Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY) released a statement on July 25, 2025: “During his nomination hearing yesterday, Sean Plankey demonstrated that he is the right person to lead CISA. If confirmed, he will drive necessary reforms to ensure our nation’s risk advisor succeeds in its statutory mission…With cyber threats continuing to evolve rapidly and a ticking clock on both CISA 2015 and SLCGP, we cannot allow any further delay in Sean’s confirmation.”
Neil L. Bradley, Executive Vice President, Chief Policy Officer, and Head of Strategic Advocacy at the Chamber of Commerce expressed similar sentiments in a letter to Congress: “Mr. Plankey brings a wealth of experience and a proven record of leadership in both the public and private sectors. His past service as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response at the Department of Energy, as well as his tenure as Director of Cyber Policy at the National Security Council, demonstrate his deep understanding of the complex challenges facing our Nation’s critical and digital infrastructure… The Chamber urges the Senate to act expeditiously on Mr. Plankey’s nomination.”
Though Senator Wyden still has not moved his hold on the nomination, Plankey’s nomination can still proceed if the majority uses floor time to push his confirmation forward.
The news about Plankey comes at a time of increasing political division and bigger restructurings in government. While CISA’s new director gets closer and closer to the position, the previous director is having issues getting their next job because of a post by Laura Loomer, a far-right activist and self-described ‘Loyalty Enforcer’ for the Trump administration. Jen Easterly, a West Point graduate, was appointed to return as the new Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair at the Academy’s Department of Social Sciences. Then, on July 29, Loomer made a post on X, formerly Twitter, tying the former director to Nina Jankowicz, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official who led the Disinformation Governance Board. Jankowicz, along with other agents on the board, was accused of opposing Trump in their work. A day after the post, Easterly’s role was rescinded, and Daniel Driscoll, Army Senator, asked for a “full review of the Academy’s hiring practices.”
In the aftermath, Jankowicz denied ever meeting with Easterly in a Bluesky post, even saying the Army’s decision was proof “we live in the stupidest timeline”. On July 31, Easterly shared a blog post on LinkedIn and described the rescinding as “a casualty of casually manufactured outrage that drowned out the quiet labor of truth and the steady pulse of integrity.” Despite this, Easterly is resolved to push forward. In her own words, “[leading] in this moment is to believe that with unshakeable certainty, to resist the cynicism that corrodes our institutions, to meet falsehoods with fidelity to truth and adversity with resilience.”
This determined outlook may be beneficial to top officials at the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), a project managed by CISA. The program was created “to unify cyber defense capabilities from government, industry and international organizations” - primarily fostering partnerships with the private sector to stop cybercrime. JCDC recently lost a significant portion of their ICF workforce, going from 100+ contactors to only 10. The loss came as the group’s contract with consulting and technology firm, reached its expiration date.
The contract is likely just one of many that will undergo newfound scrutiny in the era of DOGE. Noem requires all contracts and awards over $100,000 to be approved by her $65 billion department - so even more contracts at CISA for critical work are expected to fall away, unless they are renewed soon. CISA’s emergency funding can sustain the remaining ICF contractors for brief, two-week periods that may be renewed until September 30 (the end of the fiscal year). Hopefully, the DHS will approve a longer, one-year extension for the tech firm before it’s too late.