Other Biden administration appointees at CISA will also submit their resignations on Jan. 20, as the cyber-defense agency prepares for President-elect Trump’s new DHS director.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that Jen Easterly, director of the agency, will step down from her position on President-elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day.
Other political appointees of President Biden will follow suit with their own resignations as the agency prepares for a second Trump administration.
When Easterly was first nominated for the position by the Biden administration, she filled an eight-month vacancy after then-President Trump fired the agency’s first director, Chris Krebs, for denouncing the administration’s false claims of a rigged 2020 US election.
During her time as CISA director, Easterly oversaw prominent moments within the cybersecurity field, such as the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that sent shockwaves throughout the industry and prompted significant change within critical infrastructure security practices. She also led CISA in ushering in new cybersecurity initiatives, such as Secure by Design and CISA’s resiliency playbook to provide guidance and improve critical infrastructure security.
It remains unclear what Easterly’s plans are after leaving CISA. However, former President Trump has nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CISA. It’s unclear what CISA’s future holds, as some Republican lawmakers have called for restricting the scope of its mission and, in some cases, for its elimination.
