Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Thursday he is calling on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to bring Harry Coker’s nomination to head the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Direction (ONCD) to the floor as soon as possible.
On Nov. 15, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported Coker to the full Senate on a vote of 9-6.
“[I’m] delighted that Mr. Coker has been reported out by the committee,” Sen. King said during a call with reporters on Nov. 16. “I wish it had been a stronger vote – I’m not quite sure what the issues were because I found him to be extremely well qualified, thoughtful, I’ve met with him.”
“But the important thing is his nomination will now come to the floor, I hope as soon as possible,” Sen. King said.
The committee favorably reported Coker’s nomination to the full Senate on Nov. 15, practically along party lines. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., was the sole Republican to vote in the affirmative for Coker.
The panel vote came days before ONCD’s Acting Director Kemba Walden is slated to step down from her role. Because of this, Sen. King wants Coker’s nomination to be the “first order of business” when the full Senate comes back into session on Monday, Nov. 27.
Walden has noted that her last day at ONCD will be today. And with Coker’s nomination vote not yet slated on the Senate calendar, the office will be director-less. Though, Sen. King said this should not be an issue as long as the spot is not vacant for more than a “week or so.”
“This is a coordinating and a strategic position rather than an operational one, so I don’t think the pause a week or so in the leadership is a problem,” Sen. King said. “I do think it’s critical to have someone at the top of this agency – not perhaps by one or two days and really hopefully what we’re talking about is a week or so.”
“If it goes much beyond a week or two then I think there is a concern just because of the importance of the position in terms of coordination between the various agencies,” the senator added. “And the worst thing would be if we suffered a serious cyberattack, and this position was vacant, so that’s why I think it should be at the top of the list.”
“As I say, I’m hopeful that this will be one of the first orders of business when we return Monday in a week. But I’m not too worried about that,” he said.
President Biden nominated Coker for the White House position in July after the inaugural NCD Chris Inglis stepped down from the role in February.
Coker sailed through his Senate nomination hearing earlier this month with little to no opposition from lawmakers. Coker pledged that the workforce would be his top priority if confirmed to the chief cyber position.
“I have proudly served our nation for over four decades in the military and as a civil servant. And although it was not called cyber when I first became interested as a high schooler in Parsons, Kansas, by the time I graduated from the United States Naval Academy, I recognized the importance of what is now known as cyberspace,” Coker said during his nomination hearing on Nov. 2.
“I worked at the intersection of technology and national security for the next 20 years, while serving our nation in uniform as a Naval Officer. I continued this work in a different capacity spending another two decades as a civil servant and senior leader in both the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency,” Coker added. “Since retiring from government service in 2019, I have continued focusing on the challenges our nation faces in cyberspace by supporting organizations that prepare for and respond to evolving cyber threats.”
