# Trump taps Palantir security chief to run battered US cyber defense agency

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/trump-taps-palantir-security-chief-to-run-battered-us-cyber-defense-agency/
- Published: 2026-11-10T16:15:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-10T16:20:44+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/11/10/trump-taps-palantir-security-chief-to-run-battered-us-cyber-defense-agency/5308763
- Topics: Americas, Cybersecurity, Technology, World

## Key points

- Trump nominated Palantir security chief Michael LoSapio to lead CISA.
- The agency has lost about a third of its workforce.
- Palantir’s government work and privacy concerns may draw scrutiny.

## Summary

President Donald Trump has nominated Michael LoSapio, Palantir’s chief information security officer, to lead the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). If confirmed, he would take charge of the federal government’s main civilian cyber defence agency after it has spent nearly two years without a Senate-confirmed director and lost about a third of its staff.

LoSapio joined Palantir in 2013, left for a period and returned in 2017; he has been the company’s security chief since September 2024. CISA has shed more than 1,000 employees, while around 250 recruits were awaiting security clearances in September. Trump’s previous nominee, Sean Plankey, withdrew in April after more than a year awaiting confirmation. LoSapio’s nomination may face scrutiny over Palantir’s government contracts and privacy concerns, and could need to be resubmitted if the Senate does not act before the current Congress ends.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.