CSO contacted Scholten’s office multiple times seeking comment, but received no response. CSO also received no response to the questions surrounding this letter from either DHS or CISA. CSO made efforts to reach Plankey for comment, but yielded no response.
Questions over who wanted Plankey blocked
On March 3, Ana Visneski, a former head of global disaster response at Amazon Web Services and former chief of digital media for the US Coast Guard, posted on Bluesky that she was “hearing from multiple sources” that Plankey “has been fired and escorted out of Coast Guard HQ by security,” a post that was picked up by at least one influential military analyst. Visneski did not respond to CSO’s request for comment.
Following Visneski’s social media post, CBS News published a report repeating the allegation, saying that Plankey was abruptly escorted out of the US Coast Guard headquarters and had his access badge removed. CBS News also reported that sources said Plankey’s renomination was made in error, which the White House denied.
