NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Senate committee voted Wednesday to advance PresidentDonald Trump's pick to lead the agency that secures the nation's critical infrastructure,including election systems. Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-6 to recommendSean Plankey's nomination for director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, which sits under the Department of Homeland Security. The agency has been dealing with workforce and funding cuts, as well as criticism from Republicans over some of its election-related activities. Plankey, who retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2023, worked in the first Trump administration as a director for cyber policy at the National Security Council and then as a principal deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy. If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, he will inherit an agency that has been mired in partisan tensions over the role it should play incombating false claimsabout voting or election fraud. Those claims have led to alack of trustamong Republicans inelection workersandvoting machinessinceTrumpstartedlying about widespread fraudleading tohis lossin the 2020 election. Amajority of Republicansstill believe that DemocratJoe Bidenwas not legitimately elected president in 2020. Plankey faces one potential obstacle in his path to confirmation: Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., placed a hold on his nomination in April to demand that CISA release an unclassified 2022 report on telecommunications vulnerabilities. Wyden said Wednesday he would not relent until the report is public. CISA spokesperson Marci McCarthy said in an emailed statement that the agency plans to release the report. CISA is tasked with protecting the nation's critical infrastructure, from dams and power plants to banks and voting systems. It has received praise from state election officials of both parties for its work protecting those systems. But it also has been sharply criticized by Republicans who claim its efforts tocounter misinformationabout elections and the COVID-19 pandemic veered into censorship. During her Senatehearingin January to be homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem said the agency had strayed "far off mission." CISA officials have said they werenever engaged in censorshipand only worked with states in 2020 to help them notify social media companies about misinformation spreading on their platforms. They said the agency did not instruct or try to coerce those companies to act. CISA worked with other federal agenciesin 2024to alert the public to variousforeign misinformation campaignsrelated to the election. During his July 24 confirmation hearing, Plankey faced some pointed questions about election security. When Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked him if the2020 electionwas rigged and stolen, Plankey did not answer directly. Instead, he said he had not reviewed that election's cybersecurity and that his personal opinions were not relevant. He acknowledged that Biden's victory was confirmed by the Electoral College and that he was sworn in. Blumenthal then pressed Plankey on what he would do if Trump later pushed him to falsely claim the 2026 or 2028 elections were rigged. "Senator, as a cybersecurity professional, these are state-run elections," Plankey answered. "I have not reviewed the cybersecurity posture of all 50 states. That's like a doctor who's diagnosing somebody over the television because they saw him on the news." "No," Blumenthal replied. "It's like a doctor who has a patient come to him and is responsible for doing the diagnosis." The senator called Plankey's answers "unsatisfactory" and accused him of "undermining the confidence of the nation in the election apparatus." Plankey also will face a challenge leading an agency that is undergoing structural changes during Trump's second term. That includes funding and workforce cuts and the pausing of election security work pending a Homeland Security review. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., asked Plankey how he would ensure the agency's statutory requirements are met, given the expectedmultimillion-dollar budget cutsand personnel leaving the agency. The nominee said he had learned through his leadership experience to "allow the operators to operate" and praised the cybersecurity capabilities of the agency's staff. He said he would reorganize CISA or ask for more money if needed. Plankey's advancement comes as the ranking Democrats on the House and Senate committees overseeing elections have sent multiplelettersto CISA leadership requesting information about its workforce cuts and the status of its efforts to support election infrastructure. They have not received a response. Trump signed an executive order earlier this year directing the U.S. Justice Department toinvestigate former CISA head Chris Krebsand strip his security clearances. Krebs became a target of Trump's ire after he insistedthe 2020 election was secureand that ballot counts were accurate.
