The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted today to approve the nomination of Sean Plankey to become the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The approval came on a 9-6 vote, with no substantive debate among senators on the nominee’s qualifications during a markup session on July 30.
The committee’s vote sends the nomination to the full Senate for further consideration.
During his nomination hearing before Senate committee last week, Plankey emphasized that, if confirmed, he would focus on CISA’s primary security missions and push for more resources from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Congress if necessary.
Plankey was nominated in March to become CISA director, but the pace of the nomination through the Senate was slowed due in part to statements from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who said he would place a hold on the nomination because of CISA’s refusal to publicly release a 2022 report on telecom sector security.
The senator’s objection to the nominee may be closer to thawing, however, in light of a statement issued by CISA earlier this week that it planned to issue the 2022 “US Telecommunications Insecurity Report” that Sen. Wyden has been pushing for. A statement from CISA Public Affairs Director Marci McCarthy said the agency planned to publicly issue the report “with proper clearance.”
Whether that commitment changes Sen. Wyden’s intentions on the nomination remains to be seen.
Separately, the Senate on July 29 approved a bill offered by Sen. Wyden requiring the release of the 2022 CISA report. That bill still needs House approval and President Trump’s signature before it can become law.
In a statement on the Senate vote on July 28, Sen. Wyden said, “Congress and the American people deserve to read this report. It includes frankly shocking details about national security threats to our country’s phone system that require immediate action.”