Nick Andersen appointed to CISA leadership role

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday announced that Nicholas Andersen has taken over as the executive assistant director for cybersecurity. 

Andersen, who began Tuesday, served as principal deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response  office from 2019 until 2021. During that time, he performed the duties of assistant secretary, according to a CISA press release.

Andersen worked closely with Sean Plankey, who has been nominated to run CISA, while at the Department of Energy. 

Karen Evans, who has since transitioned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, filled Andersen’s new role from January to March, and more recently Chris Butera held the position in an acting capacity.

Eric Goldstein served in the role for nearly four years during the Biden administration.

In an interview with Recorded Future News before the reelection of Donald Trump, Andersen said that CISA must be streamlined. Since then, several hundred jobs have been cut from the agency and funding has been significantly reduced.

“[CISA] grew so fast and it grew so large that it kind of became like Mikey in those old cereal commercials. ‘Give it to Mikey, Mikey will eat anything’ — all of the random problems got dumped on CISA,” Andersen said in the interview. “So many of the things they have done have resulted in absolutely nothing the last couple of years.”