‘We have to prioritize cybersecurity’ within federal budgets, outgoing cyber czar says

The Trump administration shouldn’t abandon an effort to get federal agencies to set cybersecurity priorities as part of their annual budget requests, the nation’s outgoing cyber czar said on Tuesday.

Last year, the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Wednesday published a list of digital security benchmarks they wanted agencies to pursue as part of their fiscal 2026 budgets. It was intended to be a powerful new oversight tool for the White House, giving both offices the ability to review the cyber plans each agency submits and send them back if they have any concerns.

“I'm not going to dance around things: it's good to give budget guidance. We need to give budget direction when it comes to cybersecurity,” National Cyber Director Harry Coker said at an event at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.

“I would love for the incoming administration, or any administration, to recognize the priority of cybersecurity.”

Coker’s remarks come less than two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn back into office. 

Federal cybersecurity was never high on the list of priorities during Trump’s first term and, given his stated focus on immigration and taxes once in the Oval Office — and that he has yet to name a single major digital security leader for his new administration, including Coker’s successor — the subject is likely to be given short shrift again.

Coker said he understands that the nation “is in a tough budget situation.” 

“I get that, and I support making progress towards reducing the deficit, but we have to prioritize cybersecurity within our current budgets,” he said.

He noted that from its inception four years ago, ONCD “took on as much as we were capable of taking on, given the resources.”