We’ve still got problems, CISA still doesn’t have a director unless Mr. Wales is more permanent

Back In November, I blogged a post entitled Chris Krebs gets the boot, seems to have done his job, Trump didn’t like that too much and I got to thinking about this during the Solar Wind fiasco which we’re still learning about. I’m sure there are more articles that will come out, but that isn’t what this post is going to cover.

As far as we can tell, Mr. Krebs (no relation to Brian) had things under control and while there may have been metaling in this years election, it was not because of foreign influence. I’ve got two articles I read around that time that question who is going to head CISA.

The first talks about an Energy official being eyed for the position of director. The guy’s name is Sean Plankey, the current senior official at the department of energy. As we’ve learned within recent days, the department of energy is part of this massive breach, and just looking at DLVR to see that things are working, we’ve got more today on this breach.

I don’t want to talk bad about people, but Sean seems to have some problems that are reported in this article. I’m going to quote several paragraphs that talk about this.

The status of Plankey’s security clearance, however, hangs in the balance. Three former U.S. officials told CyberScoop that an issue with Plankey’s security
clearance came up in the last year, prompting a review of his status as a clearance holder. It’s unclear if those issues have been resolved, and if Plankey
still holds a clearance.

Reached by phone Thursday, Plankey declined to comment on the status of his clearance or when he would join CISA.

Not having a clearance would prevent Plankey from receiving the classified information that CISA officials draw on to help protect government agencies
and the private sector from hacking.

If this is definitely the case, than we have more things to worry about like someone who either doesn’t qualify, or can’t get the necessary clearance because of some issue needing to be resolved. I feel that the government has a lot of issues, and the current issue is just the beginning. While this article was written well before this week’s breach, and I didn’t blog about it then, I think now it is.

Plankey has an extensive background in cybersecurity. A Coast Guard veteran, he has served as a senior official at DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy
Security and Emergency Response, and done stints at U.S. Cyber Command and as a security adviser to oil giant BP.

When I read this paragraph, I thought, “well, that is great, maybe someone with experience that could actually do a great job.” We haven’t heard anything since.

• Energy official eyed for senior CISA position after White House throws agency into turmoil

While that is some hopeful news, I then read an article entitled DHS’s cyber agency is led by career official Brandon Wales. For now. which was great news for a quick turnaround.

Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump fired Chris Krebs, the dust is still settling at the Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity agency
that Krebs led.

Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who have spent months refuting conspiracy theories and battling disinformation
surrounding the election say they will continue to do so, despite a White House purge of the agency’s leadership.

He’s a 15 year veteran of DHS, and understands the needs of what needs to go on at this agency. The article goes on:

In an email to the CISA workforce Wednesday afternoon, Wales urged his colleagues to continue to provide cybersecurity support to health care organizations
threatened by ransomware attacks during the pandemic, and to prioritize election security efforts as states certify vote tallies.

“We made great strides in our election security efforts, and we need to stay focused on continuing to provide the assistance and guidance that state and
local election officials have come to rely on,” Wales wrote.

How long Wales will lead the agency remains unclear. The dismantling of CISA’s leadership has employees on edge. And CISA’s continued work to debunk fraud
claims could draw additional White House scrutiny.

To add insult to injury,

But Trump cannot easily fire all of CISA’s senior officials. Wales’ status as a civil servant, for example, protects him from being sacked without cause.
And CISA’s existence as an agency is codified into a law that Trump himself signed in 2018.

Since the DHS is involved in this breach and CISA is involved in figuring out how bad this is, what will our current president do with this latest breach? Apparently he has not said anything, and I’ve only heard Brandon’s name in the article I linked below the list item linking the first story.

There’s more to Brandon and what he’s done. Again, the article is entitled DHS’s cyber agency is led by career official Brandon Wales. For now. and is linked here again for your convenience. This is going to be interesting if Mr. Wales stays on, or whether he gets axed before or after the transition, if that even goes through. I hope it does, but there may be still obsticles in regards to that, according to what I’ve heard.

Comments? Let us hear what you have to say about these stories as the breach news continues.