Dive Brief:
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed that Karen Evans was named executive assistant director for cybersecurity under the Department of Homeland Security.
- Evans, who first joined CISA in January as a senior adviser, will be responsible for leading the agency’s cybersecurity efforts as the national coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience.
- Starting in 2018, Evans served as assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response at the Department of Energy. She was named chief information officer at DHS and served from March 2020 to January 2021. She also served as managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute before joining CISA.
Dive Insight:
The appointment will likely reassure key stakeholders in the cybersecurity community, as the role of CISA has been the subject of wide speculation since the presidential election.
Evans is “well positioned to help guide CISA’s core cybersecurity efforts, particularly in defending federal civilian networks and protecting critical infrastructure from attacks by adversaries,” said Ari Schwartz, coordinator at the Center for Cybersecurity Policy and Law.
Jeff Greene held the position during the latter half of 2024, following the departure of Eric Goldstein, who left the agency in June.
The agency, which oversees election security, came under fierce criticism for its prior activities related to combating disinformation.
As previously reported, some critics of the agency called for CISA to be split up, with the agency moved into the Department of Transportation, redundant functions transferred to other agencies and other pieces eliminated.
More than 130 jobs were eliminated from CISA earlier this month, which were part of a larger cut of more than 400 jobs at DHS. Trump administration officials said the cuts at DHS will save taxpayers about $50 million.
The cuts involved personnel on probationary status who were not considered mission critical. However, officials are continuing to look for additional savings.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are making sweeping cuts and reform across the federal government to eliminate egregious waste and incompetence that has been happening for decades at the expense of the American taxpayer,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.