White House Nominates Palantir Security Chief to Lead US Cybersecurity Agency
The White House said on Monday it nominated Michael LoSapio to lead America’s premier cyber defense agency.
If confirmed by the Senate, LoSapio will take over from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) acting director, Nick Andersen.
CISA, which leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to cyber and physical infrastructure, has lacked a Senate-confirmed leader for almost 22 months, since Jen Easterly resigned in January 2025.
LoSapio’s nomination comes after large-scale breaches at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI were disclosed in the past few months.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he has served as Palantir’s chief information security officer (CISO) since September 2024. Since 2017, he has led the company’s infrastructure and network security group.
President Donald Trump nominated Sean Plankey as CISA chief in March 2025. However, Plankey withdrew his name from Senate consideration in April this year.
When Democrats take control of both legislative chambers, including the Senate, in January, they can block or delay Trump nominees.
CISA has lost some staff since Trump returned to office.
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For example, according to a September report from the federal watchdog Government Accountability Office, CISA’s active personnel dedicated to chemical sector activities declined from 214 to 52 in fiscal year 2024–25.
Congressman James R. Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, claimed on Sept. 21 that one-third of CISA has been “hollowed out.” The Epoch Times has not independently verified these claims.
In July, DHS probed a cyber breach in an unclassified legacy information-sharing system used to exchange sensitive data with law enforcement partners.
The breach affected the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN), which oversees sharing sensitive but unclassified information with foreign law enforcement, local authorities, and other organizations.
The incident is thought to have occurred sometime between late May and early June.
An internal database with personal information identifying more than 41,000 employees at the DHS, including undercover immigration officers, was hacked by activists and published online, the group claimed on Oct. 28.
The FBI also recently arrested a suspect linked to ShinyHunters, the cybercriminal group suspected of being responsible for the recent breach of the bureau’s jobs website
On Sept. 22, a message on the FBI website FBIJobs.gov said it was “unavailable.” The FBI’s Special Agent Applicant Portal showed the same message.
“This is the latest arrest this FBI has made in a matter of days involving this network, as we work non-stop to dismantle the group, pursue new leads and evidence, and act quickly,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in an Oct. 9 post on X.
Patel said the FBI’s jobs website was hacked through “a platform managed by a third-party vendor.”
Democrats have raised concerns about Palantir Technologies over the company’s federal contracts and data-handling practices.
In June 2025, 10 members of Congress, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), accused the company of “enabling violations of human rights” and promised a full investigation into both Palantir and the Trump administration.
“We are not building, we have not been asked to build, and we’re not in contract to build any kind of federal master list or master database across different agencies,” Courtney Bowman, Palantir’s global director of privacy and civil liberties engineering, told The Epoch Times at the time.
“Each of those contracts are separate and fulfill specific mandates that are scoped and bound by congressional authorities and other laws.”
On Monday, former Democratic Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said Palantir had hired him.
“My agreement with Palantir is advisory in nature, it is not lobbying,” Tester told NPR in an interview on Nov. 9.
“Perception is reality in Washington, D.C., and in politics in general.
“But the fact is, I think Palantir has got a good story to tell, and they need to tell it. And hopefully folks will be receptive to it.”
Tom Gantert, Kimberly Hayek, Aldgra Fredly, Jill McLaughlin, Austin Alonzo, and Reuters contributed to this report.
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