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By Raphael Satter
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has put a hold on President Donald Trump's appointee for the U.S. cybersecurity agency, citing what the Oregon senator called a "multi-year cover-up" of serious vulnerabilities in the U.S. telecommunications network.
In remarks released by his office on Wednesday, Wyden said he would object to considering the nomination of Sean Plankey, Trump's pick to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, unless the agency published a report on insecurity in the U.S. telecommunications industry dating back to 2022.
Under Senate rules, a single senator can hold up a nominee even if the other 99 want to move forward, using up floor time as lawmakers vote their way through what would otherwise be routine procedural hurdles. Legislators often use holds or even the threat of holds to negotiate concessions from the executive branch.
CISA referred questions on the matter to the White House, which did not return a message seeking comment. Plankey, who was nominated last month to lead the agency, did not return a message.
Wyden has had success with such tactics in the past. In 2018, Wyden held up the nomination of Trump's first nominee for CISA, Chris Krebs, until the Department of Homeland Security agreed to hand over information about cell phone surveillance in Washington. Wyden ultimately lifted the hold when DHS complied.
In his remarks, Wyden noted that he had been fighting for three years to get the report released, saying it was both unclassified and particularly relevant in light of the recent wave of breaches blamed on the Chinese hacking group nicknamed "Salt Typhoon," which he and others have blamed in part on shoddy cybersecurity at top U.S. telecommunications providers.
"CISA's multi-year cover up of the phone companies' negligent cybersecurity has real consequences," the remarks said. "Congress and the American people have a right to read this report."
(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Nia Williams)
