Questions over who wanted Plankey blocked: On March 3, Ana Visneski, a former head of global disaster response at Amazon Web Services and former chief of digital media for the US Coast Guard, posted on Bluesky that she was “hearing from multiple sources” that Plankey “has been fired and escorted out of Coast Guard HQ by security,” a post that was picked up by at least one influential military analyst. Visneski did not respond to CSO’s request for comment.Following Visneski’s social media post, CBS News published a report repeating the allegation, saying that Plankey was abruptly escorted out of the US Coast Guard headquarters and had his access badge removed. CBS News also reported that sources said Plankey’s renomination was made in error, which the White House denied.The CBS report also highlights longstanding tensions between Plankey and Madhu Gottumukkala over cybersecurity contracts. Gottumukkala had been former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s CIO in South Dakota, and Plankey, by all accounts, had an excellent relationship with Noem while at DHS.Two sources told CSO that it was highly unlikely that Plankey was fired because he received a Coast Guard award days after he was supposedly escorted out of the building, and, moreover, he was still the CISA nominee at that point, an unlikely status if he had indeed been fired.
A weak agency in the middle of a hot war: Whatever harm may have been done to Plankey, it is certain that the lack of leadership at CISA risks damage to the nation’s security, particularly in the middle of the Iran war.”Cybersecurity is not just a law enforcement or an economic issue,” CTA’s Daniel said. “It’s both of those things, but it is also a national security issue. And we are in a position now where we have started a hot war, a kinetic war.”He added, “One of the tools that Iran has at its disposal is its cyber capabilities, and it would be foolish of anyone to think that Iran would not at least consider targeting US critical infrastructure because of that ongoing conflict. You have left your nation’s cyber defense agency, which is responsible for working with critical infrastructure across the whole country, leaderless when you’re in an active hot conflict. So that seems like a problem to me.”Just how long CISA will be leaderless is unclear. One thing that is clear is that Plankey will support whoever does become the next CISA leader.”While I humbly request the removal of my nomination, I wholeheartedly support President Trump’s upcoming nomination for CISA and look forward to the continued success of the United States of America,” Plankey told the White House.In the end, the story may be less about Sean Plankey than about what happens when Washington treats cybersecurity leadership as expendable. Leaving the nation’s primary cyber defense agency weakened, underfunded, and without confirmed leadership is not simply a personnel problem, it is a national security risk.
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