The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) may have to run for a while without the services of Sean Plankey as director of the agency after Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said on Wednesday that he will place a hold on the nomination made by the White House last month for Plankey to head the agency.
That future-leaning news was more than matched by the White House last night when President Donald Trump looked to the distant past in issuing a presidential memorandum that accuses former CISA Director Christopher Krebs of being a “bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority” while heading the agency from 2018 to 2020.
Krebs was fired by President Trump following the 2020 presidential election, after Krebs pronounced that the election was conducted securely and without significant voter fraud.
In addition to attacking Krebs with numerous unfounded and unproven allegations, President Trump’s memorandum orders Federal agencies to revoke any active security clearances that may be held by Krebs and SentinelOne, where the former CISA director works as chief intelligence and public policy officer.
In a wider swipe at CISA, President Trump’s memorandum also orders a “comprehensive evaluation of all of CISA’s activities” going back six years since the agency was created with a focus on “any instances” where CISA’s conduct appears to have been contrary to the purposes and policies” of the president’s executive order issued in January 2025, entitled “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship.”
That order takes the Biden administration to task for attempting to censor free speech online by calling out misinformation and disinformation. It states that, as a policy of the current Trump administration, Federal government officials shall take no action to “unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”
After that review, the White House said that the attorney general and secretary of homeland security will make recommendations “for appropriate remedial or preventative actions to be taken” to fulfill the policies of the January executive order.
SentinelOne said in a statement Wednesday night that its mission is to “defend customers, enterprises, and governments against cyber threats by leveraging the most advanced Artificial Intelligence. We view the White House as a crucial collaborator on that mission, and we will continue to support a strong America at a time of heightened geopolitical threats.”
“We will actively cooperate in any review of security clearances held by any of our personnel – currently less than 10 employees overall and only where required by existing government processes and procedures to secure government systems,” the company said.
Wyden Puts Hold on Plankey Nomination
In a separate move that could indefinitely delay the Senate’s consideration of Plankey to head CISA, Sen. Wyden said on Wednesday that he will “object to considering” the nomination until CISA publicly releases an unclassified report titled “U.S. Telecommunications Insecurity 2022.”
“Congress and the American people have a right to read this report, and until CISA releases it, I must object to this nomination,” the senator said.
Sen. Wyden’s objection to considering the Plankey nomination does not appear to relate to any concerns with the nominee himself.
“CISA permitted my staff to read the report in person at the agency’s office in the fall of 2023,” the senator said. “However, CISA has marked this unclassified report ‘For Official Use Only’ and has refused to provide copies of the report to Congress and in response to FOIA requests from the public.”
Sen. Wyden said he asked former CISA Director Jen Easterly in February 2024 to publicly release the report and claimed that “she continued to stonewall my requests until she left office in January 2025.”
The senator also said that President Biden took no action in response to a February 2024 letter from the lawmaker which he said urged “the Administration to take action to address the serious national security threat posed by foreign governments exploiting U.S. phone carriers’ weak cybersecurity.”
According to the senator, he said in that letter that “CISA is actively hiding information about [the threat] from the American people … CISA refuses to publicly release this unclassified report, which includes details that are relevant to policymakers and Americans who care about the security of their phones.”
“CISA’s multi-year cover up of the phone companies’ negligent cybersecurity has real consequences,” the senator said on Wednesday.
“The federal government still does not require U.S. phone companies to meet minimum cybersecurity standards,” Sen. Wyden said. “While it is too late to prevent the Salt Typhoon hack, there is still time to prevent the next incident.”
“As such, I intend to object to considering this nominee until CISA agrees to release this report, which will enable Congress and the public to better understand the current threats and the need for stronger cyber defenses,” the senator said.