Senate confirms national cyber director pick Sean Cairncross

The Senate voted to confirm Sean Cairncross as national cyber director Saturday, giving the Trump administration one of its top cyber officials after a more than five-month process.

The vote was 59-35.

President Donald Trump nominated Cairncross on Feb. 12. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on his nomination in early June, then voted to advance him that same month.

At his hearing, Cairncross said he’d be focused on policy coordination. He fielded questions from senators about his lack of cyber experience, the biggest cyber threats, cuts to federal cybersecurity personnel and more.

Cairncross has held leadership positions inside and outside of government where there’s been a tenuous connection to cybersecurity. He served as CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a foreign aid agency, in the first Trump administration, along with roles in the White House. He’s also a former top official at the Republican National Committee.

Despite that, Cairncross has the vocal support of a number cyber experts and past government cyber officials

The Senate vote on Cairncross slots one more cyber leader into the Trump administration.  Alexei Bulazel has taken the job of top cyber official with the White House’s National Security Council, and Brett Leatherman is in the top cyber position at the FBI.

Trump has nominated Sean Plankey to serve as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 9-6 last week to move his vote to the floor, although Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has placed a hold on the nomination pending the release of a telecommunications cybersecurity report.

Trump has displaced the joint head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, and hasn’t settled yet on who will take over.

There’s a backlog of Trump nominees that Cairncross got caught up in prior to the floor vote Saturday.