Cape News

This morning, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley questioned Sean Plankey, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) under the Department of Homeland Security. During the questioning, Senator Hawley secured a commitment from Plankey to shift the agency's focus back to protecting critical infrastructure instead of supporting what he termed as Biden-era government censorship.

“Let me just read some of the euphemisms that your predecessor used to talk about CISA’s mission in the censorship effort: ‘narrative control,’ ‘perception management’—‘information integrity’ is my favorite,” Senator Hawley said. “You’re telling me that you’re going to get CISA out of the business of policing ‘narrative control?’” Plankey affirmed his agreement with this stance.

Senator Hawley reminded those present about what he described as First Amendment abuses under the Biden Administration’s CISA, mentioning censorship on topics such as COVID-19, vaccines, elections, and school-board meetings.

Plankey assured Senator Hawley that "it is not CISA’s job, and nor is it in its authorities, to censor or determine the truths, whether it be on social media or at any level of media." If confirmed for the role, Plankey stated he would focus on protecting federal civilian executive branches and critical infrastructure in line with CISA's mandate.