Trump cyber nominees expected to testify next week, people familiar say

A pair of nominees chosen to lead President Donald Trump’s core cybersecurity offices are expected to testify before a Senate panel next week, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Sean Plankey — tapped to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in March — will appear before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on June 5, according to the people, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity because the schedule isn’t yet public. Sean Cairncross, picked to be the National Cyber Director, will also testify, one of the people said.

In the latter part of Trump’s first term as president, Plankey served as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response at the Department of Energy, 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. 

Cairncross — a former RNC official and CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation humanitarian agency during Trump’s first term — would be tasked with overseeing an office first stood up under Biden that has served as a key public-facing White House cyber policy interlocutor between federal agencies and Capitol Hill. His nomination was announced in February.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The planned hearing was first reported by Politico.

Plankey and Cairncross are expected to have the votes necessary to advance out of committee, especially with a GOP majority in the Senate. Cairncross, notably, does not have a formal cybersecurity background, though he has been recently meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss cybersecurity issues. 

But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has stated his intent to block Plankey’s nomination and plans to lift the hold once CISA releases a 2022 report on telecom industry security vulnerabilities. Wyden’s office has not yet received the report from CISA, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to be candid about its delivery status.

CISA declined to comment.

The planned testimonies come as workforce reductions have been put in place across many of the government’s security offices, including in CISA, which the Trump administration has proposed a nearly $500 million budget reduction for in the coming fiscal year. 

A swath of division and regional leaders across CISA departed or are set to depart in the coming days, according to an internal memo sent last week. Senior administration officials — namely DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — have vowed to rescope the office and get it back “on mission” amid GOP accusations that CISA censored American’s free speech in its work calling out mis- and disinformation.