Trump Nominates Former DOE Cyber Official to Lead CISA

Thu, 03/27/2025

Sean Plankey, federal cyber leader during President Donald Trump’s first administration, has been tapped to lead CISA.

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Written by:

Nikki Henderson

President Donald Trump nominated Sean Plankey, a top cyber leader from Trump’s first administration, earlier this month to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). If confirmed, Plankey will succeed the agency’s former director Jen Easterly, who resigned from the position during the presidential transition in Jan. 2025.

During Trump’s first administration, Plankey served as Energy Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary for Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER).

While at CESER, Plankey led several initiatives to bolster the division’s cyber workforce, including its Service Academy Collaboration Program, which provided students an opportunity to work alongside cyber leaders at Idaho National Laboratory, and CESER’s OT Defender Fellowship Program, which offered OT security managers at utilities and refineries an opportunity to learn about adversarial state and nonstate actors’ cyber tactics used to target U.S. energy infrastructure.

“Through this initiative, we’re ensuring that front-line security managers are equipped with the resources and education they need to prepare for any cyber-events – whether that be a cyber incident or a natural disaster,” Plankey said in a press release announcing fellowship program.

During his tenure, CESER also announced $750,ooo in funding to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Potomac Institute for Policy Studies to generate recommendations “to [enable CESER to] better understand the geopolitical aspects of the global energy market and draw clear connections between international developments and potential threats to U.S. energy security,” according to Plankey.

Before CESER, Plankey served as director for Maritime and Pacific Cybersecurity Policy at the National Security Council, where he co-authored the National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan and other presidential directives on offensive cyberspace operations.

Plankey served with the U.S. Navy as deputy CIO for Naval Intelligence, the U.S. Coast Guard in various positions and the U.S. Cyber Command as weapons and tactics branch chief, J38 Fires.

The Senate has not yet determined a Plankey’s hearing date.