Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is promising to continue his thus-far successful efforts to block confirmation of Sean Plankey as the Trump administration’s nominee to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Plankey was first nominated by President Donald Trump in March 2025 to head the security agency, and he would come to the position with enviable experience.
That includes a stint as assistant director for infrastructure security at CISA, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) at the Energy Department, and two years at U.S. Cyber Command.
The nomination ultimately failed after pushback from three Republican senators, and fierce opposition from Sen. Wyden, who placed a hold on the nomination because of CISA’s refusal to publicly release a 2022 internal report on telecom sector security.
The tactic of placing a hold on a Senate nominee says to leadership that the senator would object to approving the nomination by unanimous consent.
Sen. Wyden stated his intent to place a hold on Plankey’s latest nomination in new remarks published in the Congressional Record.
The senator pledged he would “object” to the Plankey nomination Senate proceeding.
“Since July 2022, I have been fighting to get CISA to release an important, unclassified report titled ‘U.S. Telecommunications Insecurity 2022’ that the Agency commissioned from independent cyber security experts,” Sen. Wyden said.
“Congress and the American people have a right to read this report and the shocking information it contains,” he said, adding, “The Senate has even passed a bill demanding its release.”
“Since CISA continues to hide this report from the American people, I must continue objecting to this nomination,” the senator said.
Sen. Wyden said his staff have been allowed to view the CISA document, but at the same time, has refused to provide it to members of Congress and in response to FOIA requests from the public.
Beyond Plankey facing an uphill battle to become CISA director, the agency’s current acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, has been under scrutiny after a report from Politico revealed he failed a polygraph test.