Ex-NSA, CIA official Harry Coker in line to be next National Cyber Director: White House

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden intends to nominate a former senior National Security Agency official, Harry Coker, to be the next national cyber director, the White House announced today. 

If confirmed into his role, Coker will fill a critical role left open months after the departure of Chris Inglis, who was appointed as the first-ever national cyber director in 2021.

Coker served 20 years in the US Navy, and was most recently the executive director of the National Security Agency before leaving in 2019. Before that he was director of open source enterprise in the Central Intelligence Agency’s directorate of digital innovation, according to the announcement. He’s currently a senior fellow at Auburn’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, co-chairs of the congressional Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC), said they were “relieved” a new cyber director had been chosen, and they “strongly support[ed]” Coker, who they described as a “natural choice” for the post.

“Looking forward, it is important to reiterate the necessity of strong, permanent leadership in the Office of the National Cyber Director,” the two said in a statement. “The NCD is effectively the ‘coach’ of the U. S. cybersecurity team, and it is important that the leadership is Senate-confirmed and accountable to both the President and Congress.”

Tech news outlet The Record reported earlier this month that Kemba Walden, who has been serving as the acting deputy national cyber director, was informed she would not be nominated for the position. Walden confirmed to The Washington Post that she had withdrawn her name for consideration, and the outlet reported that personal debt was allegedly the reason she would not be nominated. 

In his role, Coker will lead the implementation of the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy. Released in March, the 35-page strategy called for securing the US’s digital future and defending the digital ecosystem against foreign adversaries like China and Russia.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the strategy’s release, Walden told reporters the strategy “fundamentally reimagines America’s cyber social contract” as the Biden administration seeks to “rebalance the responsibility for managing cyber risk onto those who are most able to bear it.”

“We ask individuals, small businesses and local governments to shoulder a significant burden for defending us all,” she said. “This isn’t just unfair, it’s ineffective. The biggest, most capable and best positioned actors in our digital ecosystem can and should shoulder a greater share of the burden for managing cyber risk and keeping us all safe.”