The Senate confirmed Harry Coker today to serve as the nation’s second permanent National Cyber Director (NCD) on a vote of 59-40.
Coker’s confirmation to serve as the head of the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) comes nearly one month after ONCD’s Acting NCD Kemba Walden departed on Nov. 17.
“Once sworn in, Mr. Coker will be the second National Cyber Director in the Office, which was established in 2021 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act,” ONCD said in a press release. “The National Cyber Director serves as principal advisor to the President on cybersecurity policy and strategy.”
“We are delighted that the Senate confirmed Mr. Coker as our next National Cyber Director,” said Drenan Dudley, who was named the acting NCD upon Walden’s departure last month. “His four decades of experience in the public and private sector will further ONCD’s success. We look forward to his leadership advancing the work underway to implement President Biden’s National Cybersecurity Strategy. On behalf of the entire team, we welcome Mr. Coker’s stewardship in this next chapter for ONCD.”
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) favorably reported Coker to the full Senate on Nov. 15 on a vote of 9-6.
“I rise in support of Harry Coker’s nomination to be the National Cyber Director,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said today ahead of the Senate floor vote. “The Office of the National Cyber Director has been without a confirmed leader for almost 10 months. A dedicated, Senate confirmed leader is critical to building upon these efforts and continuing to grow and mature the Office of the National Cyber Director.”
Coker sailed through his Senate nomination hearing last 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 earlier this month.
“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.”
Once sworn in, Coker will be in charge of leading the office’s recent efforts, including the implementation of the administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy and its National Cyber Education and Workforce Strategy.
