Trump’s two-time pick to head the US federal cybersecurity agency CISA has asked to step down from the post, leaving the agency without a clear person to lead it on a permanent basis.
In a letter to the White House on Wednesday, Sean Plankey asked the Trump administration to withdraw his nomination, citing a deadlock in the Senate, which must hold a vote to approve his nomination.
Plankey said it “has become clear” that the Senate will not confirm him, more than a year after he was first named to head CISA.
The New York Times released a copy of Plankey’s letter Thursday. Politico first reported Plankey’s decision to retire his candidacy. Both publications said Plankey was unlikely to get the majority needed for his nomination because Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) was blocking his nomination for a Coast Guard contract unrelated to cybersecurity. Plankey previously served as a senior advisor to Coast Guard leadership.
Nick Andersen has been deputy director of CISA since the departure of Madhu Gottumukkala in February. Gottumukkala was appointed in May 2025 to oversee the agency on an interim basis, but left less than a year later after a tumultuous tenure in the role.
CISA is charged by Congress with cyber defense and infrastructure protection across the civilian federal government. The agency has faced a difficult year, following at least three government shutdowns, several rounds of furloughs and White House-directed budget cuts and staff reductions, despite a series of cyberattacks the US government and its allies have faced over the past year.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration asked to cut CISA’s budget by more than $700 million amid allegations that the agency engaged in “censorship” — referring to CISA’s efforts to combat election disinformation during the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost.
A White House spokesman did not immediately comment on whether the administration had accepted Plankey’s request to withdraw his nomination, nor did he say who the Trump administration plans to nominate as the agency’s permanent director.
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