"We proudly support the work Acting CISA Director Nick Andersen has done in his role," a DHS spokesperson said — a public line that contrasts with an unanswered question: who, if anyone, will be nominated to replace him permanently.
The 210-day limit and the nomination pause
Nick Andersen has led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in an acting capacity since February of this year. Under statutory rules, an acting official faces a 210-day limit on serving without a formal nomination; selecting a nominee pauses that clock, a fact Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, described as "the easiest way to keep Andersen in the acting role."
That practical fix has not been used. Sean Plankey withdrew his nomination for the Senate-confirmed post in April, and although Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in June that a likely replacement nominee had met with the president and was "coming soon," four months later no nominee has materialized, according to the reporting.
DHS public support, White House silence
The Department of Homeland Security signaled clear support for Andersen in response to questions about keeping him in place: "We proudly support the work Acting CISA Director Nick Andersen has done in his role," the DHS spokesperson said. DHS referred further inquiries to the White House, and CyberScoop reported that the White House did not respond to inquiries.
Multiple sources told CyberScoop they have been informed the administration has been working to keep Andersen in the job, and one reported potential administrative workarounds — for example, shifting Andersen’s title to "senior official performing the duties of" CISA director — rather than moving forward with a Senate nomination.
This site is the portfolio.
OSINTSights runs on Cloudflare Workers, D1, R2, and Vectorize, with an AI pipeline on Hetzner ARM. Nubivance designed, built, and operates it. We do the same for clients.
See what we buildCongressional leaders — bipartisan praise
On Capitol Hill, leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee publicly praised Andersen’s stewardship. Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., said, "Acting Director Andersen is doing an excellent job preparing CISA to meet today’s threats, and we have a great working relationship. He has shown exceptional leadership at the agency, which is especially important in an increasingly complex threat environment as adversaries and criminals use AI to expand their capabilities and make attacks on our networks and critical infrastructure harder to defend against."
The panel’s top Democrat, Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, offered measured but strong backing: "Acting Director Andersen has provided some much-needed stability to CISA following a year of chaos and incompetent leadership," Thompson said. He added that unnecessary leadership changes could "once again destabilize CISA" and argued it is "in the best interest of CISA’s mission to have an empowered leader who has earned the trust of the agency’s workforce and its stakeholders."
Administration search strategy and internal views
Sources told CyberScoop that when the search to replace Plankey began, the administration sought someone with a high pre-existing profile — likely from a big-name technology company. That search, and the apparent reluctance to formally nominate, has prompted skepticism among security experts. Montgomery said his "gut reaction is that there’s just no appetite at the White House to say the four-letter ‘CISA’ to the president," referencing what he characterized as the president’s past animosity toward the agency. "The way to keep Andersen in play is to nominate somebody. I think that stops the clock. But I don’t even think they can get the president to nominate Bugs Bunny. To me, that’s troubling."
Industry and former officials who spoke to CyberScoop reinforced the sense that Andersen has stabilizing influence. An industry source said, "Frankly, from everything [I’ve heard], people broadly support Nick, and he’s doing well at CISA," and urged that the administration "would be wise to push his nomination through the Senate and put Nick on firmer footing." John Zangardi, former chief information officer at DHS, said, "The organization is actually getting much better under Nick... So morale has kind of gone back up, and I think Nick has been very instrumental in that."
How technologists, policymakers, and the public are responding
- Technologists and security teams: They are watching leadership continuity closely; sources quoted in the reporting tied improved morale and renewed organizational focus to Andersen’s tenure, and industry voices expressed broad support for him remaining in place.
- Policymakers and regulators: Congressional leaders who oversee CISA have voiced bipartisan support for Andersen’s leadership, noting both the operational improvements and the risk that further leadership churn would destabilize the agency’s mission.
- The general public and critical infrastructure operators: The reporting highlights concerns about agency capacity in an "increasingly complex threat environment," and notes CISA recently released a strategy "meant to carry CISA through 2030," signaling planning that stakeholders will expect to see executed regardless of the question over permanent leadership.
The central choice confronting the administration is concrete: nominate a permanent director and pause Andersen’s 210-day acting clock, or pursue administrative workarounds that keep him operating without Senate confirmation. The former would place a vetted, confirmed leader in the agency; the latter preserves continuity but leaves unresolved whether CISA will have the formal, Senate-backed leadership Montgomery and others say strengthens the agency’s standing inside the interagency process. For now, Andersen remains in place, the clock still ticking, and a nomination — if it comes at all — has yet to appear.
