Sean Plankey is nominated as the new CISA Director amidst significant staff cuts and operational challenges.
Amidst wide-reaching government cuts and layoffs taking the stage in the US, the hubbub around President Donald Trump’s federal appointments has quieted down. Now that the majority of the Cabinet nominees have been confirmed, there has been a somewhat understated shift in focus to filling smaller positions in specific agencies. This week, an important nominee was announced to lead the US’s main cybersecurity agency - the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA).
On March 11, 2025, Donald Trump nominated Sean Plankey to be the director of CISA. The nomination accompanied others in leadership roles in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), currently led by Kristi Noem. Plankey’s nomination did not come as a surprise, as he worked two cyber-related jobs during the course of Trump’s first administration: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response at the Department of Energy (DOE) from 2019 to 2020, and National Security Council Director for Cyber Policy in Maritime, Pacific and National Defense.
It’s noteworthy that Plankey’s cyber experience precedes his first stint in the White House. During his military service from 2003 to 2017 (Plankey served in the U.S. Coast Guard for 20 years), he directed important cybersecurity initiatives and even worked as the Navy’s Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Naval Intelligence. In 2014, he was commended by former President Obama for leading “a cyber team in Afghanistan that supported our troops during firefights and helped prevent the detonation of remote-controlled IEDs, saving countless lives.” Plankey also continued to work in cyber after the Trump’s first term, leading as a director of cyber missions and then public sector chief technology officer at DataRobot from 2021 to 2022, before holding different senior positions at Option3, BedRock Systems, CLASS zero3 and Willis Towers Watson from 2021 to 2025.
The previous director of CISA, Jen Easterly, cited this stretch of experience as part of Plankey’s strong candidacy in a LinkedIn post: “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’s success may also be helped by his familiarity with the already established executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, Karen Evans. Evans previously worked as a CIO for DHS, and also served as Plankey’s boss during his time at the Department of Energy.
Easterly’s confidence in Plankey’s ability to serve as the director of CISA contrasts the chaos the agency is currently weathering. As expected during an administration change, Easterly stepped down as head of the agency on January 20, 2025, closing out a productive year. Soon after inauguration day, however, the agency started to face the same issues that had begun to plague other federal agencies (and then some).
Trump froze the agency’s efforts to help states secure election systems, which caused “grave concern” for experts who know that Chris Krebs, the director of CISA from 2018 to 2020, was also fired for saying the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history.” Travel to other countries has been paused, impeding the agency’s ability to collaborate with international partners. Domestic partnerships have also been limited, as CISA ended a $10 million agreement with the Center for Internet Security (CIS). CISA’s artificial intelligence programs may have also been frozen, with Chief AI Officer Lisa Einstein also losing the office in February 2025.
The biggest cuts to CISA came at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a controversial external agency run by Elon Musk that has reached into the budgets of over 30 federal bodies. DOGE has become known for the vast extent of their federal layoffs and mass firings, and CISA has not been left unscathed.
During the ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’ (a mass firing event that occurred from February 14th to February 16th), 130 probationary employees at CISA received letters of termination. Later that month, the cybersecurity agency terminated their contracts with the red team (a group that identifies cybersecurity vulnerabilities through nondestructive cyberattacks and penetration testing) and its associates, affecting more than 100 people. Although the exact number is unclear, Wired suggested that the group has lost somewhere between 300 and 400 employees in total, or “roughly 10 percent of its 3,200-person workforce” - and they may still be expecting more.
Plankey appears likely to be the next Director of CISA, as the “vast majority” of these nominations are routinely confirmed by the Senate. If he is, the turmoil and shrinking workforce at the agency guarantee that he will have his work cut out for him.