The cybersecurity veteran’s extensive leadership chops might spare the US federal cybersecurity agency from further damaging layoffs and spending cuts following a brutal seven weeks, observers say.

Plankey isn’t new to the Trump administration, as he previously served as the principal deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Energy from 2019 to 2020. He also worked as the director for cyber policy with the National Security Council before that.

President Donald Trump has nominated Sean Plankey to serve as the chief of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to a notice on Congress' website. Plankey, a former Coast Guard officer who served as director for cyber policy in the first Trump White House,