Wyden to block CISA nominee over telecom security 'cover up'
Source: Federal News Network
April 9, 2025 6:02 pm
One senator plans to block the nominee to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency until CISA releases a report on U.S. telecommunications security. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) today announced his intent to object to considering Sean Plankey to serve as director of CISA.
President Donald Trump nominated Plankey, a former Energy Department official, in March. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has yet to hold Plankey’s nomination hearing. Wyden said he’s holding Plankey’s nomination up over CISA’s refusal to release a 2022 report on “U.S. Telecommunications Insecurity.”
Wyden has been pressing CISA to release the report for several years. The agency commissioned the report amid warnings that U.S. telecommunications infrastructure has been susceptible to foreign surveillance because of known cybersecurity gaps in wireless networks. While CISA allowed Wyden’s staff to read the report in person at the agency’s office, Wyden argued the report should be made public. He said the report isn’t classified and “contains important factual information that the public has a right to see.”
But Wyden said CISA has withheld disclosure of the report under a “deliberative process privilege” claim. “CISA’s multi-year cover up of the phone companies’ negligent cybersecurity has real consequences,” Wyden said today in a statement for the record.
Read more: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cybersecurity/2025/04/wyden-to-block-cisa-nominee-over-telecom-security-cover-up/
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