Sean Cairncross confirmed as national cyber director

Former Republican National Committee official Sean Cairncross was confirmed as the new national cyber director on Saturday night.

The Senate voted 59-35 in favor of Cairncross — a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump who acknowledged during a Senate hearing in June that he has no background in cybersecurity.

The Minnesota native now takes over at the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), which plays a pivotal role in dictating executive branch cyber policy and is considered critical to the federal government’s efforts to bolster cybersecurity nationwide.

In a statement released by the White House, Cairncross said the U.S. government must ensure that “policy efforts and capabilities deliver results for our national security and the American people.” 

“The United States must dominate the cyber domain through strong collaboration across departments and agencies, as well as private industry,” he said. 

His nomination sailed through the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 1 with bipartisan support as well as significant backing from senior cybersecurity experts — many of whom praised his confirmation this weekend. 

Cairncross was grilled by senators during the hearing in June and acknowledged his lack of technical background or experience in cybersecurity compared to his predecessors. But he argued that his management work in the private sector and at the federal Millennium Challenge Corporation made him a strong candidate for the position. At the RNC, Cairncross was chief operating officer.

He had few answers for questions on a range of pertinent cybersecurity issues, instead leaning on a generalized desire to focus U.S. efforts on offensive cyber operations. 

The director role was previously held by Harry Coker, a former executive director of the National Security Agency with decades of experience in the U.S. Navy and CIA. The first national cyber director, decorated cybersecurity expert Chris Inglis, expressed public support for Cairncross. 

The ONCD was established in 2021 through the National Defense Authorization Act and subsequently led the rollout of an updated National Cybersecurity Strategy. Inglis resigned before the strategy was released and his deputy, former Microsoft official Kemba Walden, served in an acting capacity until Coker was confirmed. 

During the June hearing, Cairncross backed two timely bipartisan cyber bills — the pivotal Cybersecurity Information Sharing Extension Act and the Rural Hospital Cybersecurity Enhancement Act — while pledging to consider supporting the reauthorization of a popular state and local cybersecurity grant program administered by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Jason Oxman, president of global tech trade association ITI, congratulated Cairncross on the confirmation and urged him to push the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Extension Act forward — calling it “an essential law that will help ONCD achieve its cybersecurity mission.”