The Biden administration finally has its next cyber czar — and it has got Senate Democrats to thank for it.
On Tuesday, Democrats led a 59-40 vote to confirm nominee Harry Coker as the White House’s second-ever National Cyber Director. Coker succeeds Chris Inglis, who departed in February. Kemba Walden and later Drenan Dudley have served as acting directors in the interim.
A soft-spoken former career intelligence official, Coker will head the roughly 100-person Office of the National Cyber Director at a key moment in its short history. The White House policy shop unveiled an ambitious and largely still-to-be-implemented cybersecurity strategy in March. With a possible presidential transition looming in 2025, Coker may only have one year to act on it.
Why it could be hard: Coker comes to the role amid mounting conservative backlash to the Biden administration’s cybersecurity and disinformation efforts — which a growing number of Republicans allege has become a smokescreen to censor conservative voices online.
That was a key reason why six of seven Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee declined to throw their support behind Coker’s nomination last month, and the same dynamic appears to have played out Tuesday. Two years ago, by contrast, the Senate unanimously backed Inglis.
Why it could be easy: With the office stood up and the strategy published, Coker faces a less daunting path ahead than Inglis or Walden did.
Coker has said he will stick to the 57-page strategy implementation plan ONCD released this summer. At his confirmation hearing, Coker pledged to continue the “good work” the office has done since its inception.
Prove yourself: Unlike Inglis or Walden, Coker will begin as an outsider within the ONCD and a relative unknown in Washington.
He’s done enough already to win strong endorsements from leading cyber lawmakers, including Sens. Angus King (I-Maine), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.). But many first preferred Walden, whose candidacy the White House nixed over concerns — some claim unfair — about her personal debt.
