CISA nominee vows to advocate for agency resources, block any disinformation work

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told senators today that he believed administration leaders would be responsive to his requests for increased CISA funding if he felt that the downsized agency was hamstrung by a lack of resources.

Sean Plankey also sought to reassure Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he would steer CISA away from past work that he considers not related to the agency’s core cybersecurity mission, such as combating disinformation and foreign influence campaigns.

“If confirmed as the leader of CISA, I’d seek to restore CISA to its congressional authorities and focus on the missions that you, this body, tasked it with, which is securing the federal executive branch and then securing the critical infrastructure of the United States,” Plankey said.

Senators also questioned the nominee on the potential effects if the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, which faces expiration at the end of September, is not renewed.

“If that was let to expire, in particular in the financial sector — who does some of the largest, the most prevalent amount of information sharing — they would experience difficulties in sharing and community protection of information security,” Plankey said. “And then other industries would as well.”

Plankey originally had been scheduled to appear before the committee at the beginning of June, but he was pulled from that hearing. Reports attributed the delay to the security clearance process.

Plankey served in the first Trump administration as director for cyber policy at the National Security Council and then as principal deputy assistant secretary for Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER) at the Department of Energy before leaving for the private sector. He is a Coast Guard veteran and also briefly served as deputy CIO for U.S. Naval Intelligence.

In April, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) placed a hold on Plankey’s nomination, demanding that CISA release “an important, unclassified report by independent cybersecurity experts” on telecommunications security.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) asked Plankey today how he would respond to Chinese targeting of U.S. critical infrastructure and related components. “If confirmed, it will be a priority of mine to remove all Chinese intrusions, exploitations or infestation into the American supply chain,” Plankey replied.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) pressed the nominee about the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program that expires in September. “The weakest link in cyber impacts everybody,” she said, noting that many small localities don’t have adequate resources for cyber defense.

“I absolutely support the state and local grant program for cybersecurity,” Plankey assured the senator. “There’s many rural areas of America, and CISA exists to support all Americans across the United States. And one of the best ways to do that is through the state and local grant program.”

Some of the questioning directed at Plankey focused on CISA’s past work combating foreign influence campaigns and mis-, dis- and malinformation. Characterizing CISA as social media censors, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked Plankey what he would do to keep the agency from engaging in what the senator called “surveillance” activities.

“It is not CISA’s job and nor is it in its authorities to censor or determine the truths, whether it be on social media or in any level of media,” Plankey replied. “CISA will not do any of that work and will not be a part of any of that work if I am confirmed.”

He added that “cybersecurity is a big enough problem — we have adversaries at our door, inside our house and all over us every day.”

‘If confirmed, I need my people at CISA to be focused on eradicating those adversaries from the federal government computer systems as well as critical infrastructure of the United States,” he said.

When asked by Hawley to “make the line clear” about CISA’s election security work, Plankey said the agency “will focus on the assessment of that election infrastructure” as directed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Plankey currently serves as a cybersecurity adviser to Noem.

In response to questioning from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about whether the 2020 election was “stolen,” Plankey said he has “not reviewed any of the cybersecurity of the 2020 election.”

“My opinion on the election as an American private citizen is probably not really relevant, but the electoral college did confirm President Joe Biden and swore him into office,” he added.

Plankey told senators that in future elections “CISA is postured to respond and support every state across the United States, and we will gladly do our due diligence to support those states.”

Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) expressed concern about proposed budget cuts to CISA and the loss of a third of the agency’s workforce since the beginning of this administration. “How would you ensure that all of the agency’s statutory requirements are met given potentially millions of dollars in budget cuts that we’re seeing and hundreds of personnel leaving that agency?” Peters asked. “You’re walking into an agency that’s critically important and it’s being cut off at the knees.”

“I’m going to empower those operators to operate and do the best they can. And if that means we have to reorganize in some form or fashion, that’s what we’ll do. I’ll lead that charge,” Plankey replied. “And if that means that we need a different level of funding than we currently have now then I will approach the secretary, ask for that funding, ask for that support.”

The nominee told senators that he had “no doubt that if I go to [Noem] and tell her we’re driving in this direction to protect the American public, she’ll work under the president’s leadership to then work with Congress to get us the funds we need.”