Senate panel advances CISA director nominee to full Senate floor vote

The Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced Sean Plankey in a 9-6 vote to be director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under President Donald Trump’s second term.

The move brings Plankey, a former Energy Department cybersecurity official, one step closer to being confirmed to his post. He would still need to clear the full Senate, which is about to break for its annual August recess. Democrats on the Homeland panel largely voted against the nomination. 

Plankey still faces a possible hurdle from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who said in April that he intends to block his confirmation and only lift the hold once CISA releases a 2022 report on telecom industry security vulnerabilities. CISA said Tuesday it plans to release the report publicly.

A hold can’t entirely prevent a nominee from passing, but would instead force Senate leadership to invoke additional procedural steps to get the confirmation to the finish line.

In the latter portion of Trump’s first term as president, Plankey served as principal deputy assistant secretary for Energy's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response, overseeing energy sector engagement, preparedness, response efforts and research aimed at safeguarding U.S. energy infrastructure.

Prior to that, he served as the director for maritime and pacific cybersecurity policy at the National Security Council and also held cybersecurity leadership roles at U.S. Cyber Command. Plankey was scheduled to appear before the committee early last month, but his appearance was pushed back to July 24 due to paperwork delays. He has most recently worked in a senior advisor role handling Coast Guard matters for the Department of Homeland Security.

Plankey would be leading an agency whose workforce has been largely downsized. Nearly a third of its staff have been cut amid broader Trump-era efforts to shrink the federal government and reduce purported spending waste.

CISA has drawn vast criticism from both Trump and other members of the GOP for its past efforts to combat mis- and disinformation posted about the 2020 election, COVID-19 and other flashpoint issues on social media. Its former director, Chris Krebs, is still an active target of the Trump administration after Krebs in 2020 defied baseless claims that the election that year was rigged against the president.

In his nominations hearing, Plankey said it’s “not CISA’s job, and nor is it in its authorities, to censor or determine the truths, whether it be on social media or in any level of media.”

He also tussled with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., when asked if the 2020 presidential election was “rigged or stolen.”

“As a cybersecurity professional, these are state run elections,” Plankey also said. “I have not reviewed the cybersecurity posture of all 50 states.”

“Your role in that agency is to be above politics,” Blumenthal said at the time. “If you can’t tell us with conviction and conscience that those elections were secure, I have very serious doubts about your ability to lead this agency.”