The White House said on Monday it nominated Michael LoSapio to lead America’s premier cyber defense agency. If confirmed by the Senate, LoSapio will take over from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) acting director, Nick Andersen.
CISA, which leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to cyber and physical infrastructure, has lacked a Senate-confirmed leader for almost 22 months, since Jen Easterly resigned in January 2025.
LoSapio’s nomination comes after large-scale breaches at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI were disclosed in the past few months.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he has served as Palantir’s chief information security officer (CISO) since September 2024. Since 2017, he has led the company’s infrastructure and network security group.
President Donald Trump nominated Sean Plankey as CISA chief in March 2025. However, Plankey withdrew his name from Senate consideration in April this year.
When Democrats take control of both legislative chambers, including the Senate, in January, they can block or delay Trump nominees. CISA has lost some staff since Trump returned to office.
For example, according to a September report from the federal watchdog Government Accountability Office, CISA’s active personnel dedicated to chemical sector activities declined from 214 to 52 in fiscal year 2024-25. Congressman James R. Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, claimed on Sept. 21 that one-third of CISA has been “hollowed out.” The Epoch Times has not independently verified these claims. In July, DHS probed a cyber breach in an unclassified legacy information-sharing system used to exchange sensitive data with law enforcement partners.
The breach affected the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), which oversees sharing sensitive but unclassified information with foreign law enforcement, local authorities, and other organizations.
The incident is thought to have occurred sometime between late May and early June.
An internal database with personal information identifying more than 41,000 employees at the DHS, including undercover immigration officers, was hacked by activists and published online, the group claimed on Oct. 28.
