Days before Acting National Cyber Director (NCD) Kemba Walden is slated to resign from her post at the White House, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported Biden’s nomination, Harry Coker, to the full Senate today on a vote of 9-6.
Coker’s nomination will now head to the full Senate floor for final passage.
“Mr. Coker is a dedicated public servant with four decades of national security experience as a Naval Officer and in leadership roles at the National Security Agency and CIA,” committee Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich., said ahead of the nomination vote today. “His nomination today has been endorsed by a broad group of bipartisan cyber and national security experts, pointing to Mr. Coker’s expertise and commitment to advancing U.S. national security.”
Coker sailed through his Senate nomination hearing on Nov. 2 with little to no opposition from lawmakers. Coker pledged that the workforce would be his top priority if confirmed to the chief cyber position.
“I have proudly served our nation for over four decades in the military and as a civil servant. And although it was not called cyber when I first became interested as a high schooler in Parsons, Kansas, by the time I graduated from the United States Naval Academy, I recognized the importance of what is now known as cyberspace,” Coker said during his nomination hearing earlier this month.
“I worked at the intersection of technology and national security for the next 20 years, while serving our nation in uniform as a Naval Officer. I continued this work in a different capacity spending another two decades as a civil servant and senior leader in both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency,” Coker added. “Since retiring from government service in 2019, I have continued focusing on the challenges our nation faces in cyberspace by supporting organizations that prepare for and respond to evolving cyber threats.”
President Biden nominated Coker for the White House position in July after the inaugural NCD Chris Inglis stepped down from the role in February.
Kemba Walden is currently serving as the acting director at the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), but withdrew her name from consideration for the permanent position. She recently announced her plans to resign from the post on Friday, Nov. 17.
It’s not clear if Coker’s full-Senate confirmation will take place before Walden departs this week. One of the more consequential issues that may come with being director-less is the delayed implementation of major cyber initiatives. The ONCD is responsible for overseeing a slew of plans including its National Cyber Strategy and National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy – as well as the implementation roadmaps for both of these strategies.
The White House did not respond to questions about who would fill in for Walden in the event that Coker is not confirmed ahead of her departure on Friday.
