Biden administration taps Coker as next NCD

John Sakellariadis
·2 min read

The White House is planning to nominate Harry Coker as the nation’s second ever national cyber director, according to two people familiar with the matter.

One of the individuals said the nomination was imminent. A second also said they had heard it would come in the next 24 hours but cautioned that the announcement time was subject to change. Both were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the nomination.

Spokespeople for the White House and the Office of the National Cyber Director did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Coker could not be immediately reached for comment.

After POLITICO reported the personnel move, the White House announced the nomination in a news release.

If confirmed by the Senate, Coker, a former senior official at the CIA and NSA, would take over implementation of the Biden administration’s new national cybersecurity strategy. He would also fill a roughly five-month vacancy atop the White House cyber office.

The nation’s first national cyber director, Chris Inglis, stepped down in February. His former No. 2, Kemba Walden, has headed the office in an acting capacity ever since.

Congress created the Office of the National Cyber Director in 2021 to coordinate federal cybersecurity policy and advise the president on policy matters. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who spearheaded the legislation to create the position, once quipped that it would give Congress “one throat to choke” on cyber issues.

But when the Biden administration came into office, it created a new national security council position to oversee cyber policy matters. At times, that has led to friction within the White House.

Coker is a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Navy. He retired from government service in 2019 and most recently served as a senior fellow at Auburn University's McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.

Though Walden received endorsements from Inglis and a bipartisan slate of lawmakers, the White House scuttled her nomination over concerns about her personal debt, the Washington Post first reported earlier this month.