Walden Withdraws Nomination From Top Cybersecurity Post

The Office of the National Cyber Director’s acting director Kemba Walden will reportedly not go forward with a nomination to the office she has overseen since 2022. Walden has brought stability and leadership to an office that has been in need of it after its first Director, Chris Inglis, and its deputy director resigned within 6 months of each other in 2021. Although it has not been officially confirmed, suspicions are that Walden withdrew her nomination for the position because of her personal debts. An unnamed source told The Record that the reason she would not contend for the White House’s nomination “defies imagination” and the White House released a statement regarding Walden: “Acting National Cyber Director Kemba Walden has demonstrated strong leadership overseeing the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD). The Biden-Harris Administration – and the American people – greatly appreciate Acting Director Walden’s vision and service advancing national security, economic prosperity, and technological innovation.”

It is the policy of the office not to comment on personnel matters, and this only lends to speculation regarding the reasoning behind a withdrawal from someone who has been instrumental in providing a guiding hand to such a young office. Walden spoke to the Washington Post but did not elaborate on the alleged personal debt that is keeping her from a permanent position. Walden told the paper that she withdrew her nomination but did not elaborate on her reasoning. In their reporting, the paper describes the rules for who gets a security clearance is affected by having an unusually high amount of debt. That is, having large amounts of debt is seen as a security risk and could open up a government official to blackmail schemes. Others say that this is an abnormal occurrence, a lawyer who is familiar with the process, but spoke anonymously, tells the paper: “I’ve never heard of that one before.” The lawyer said. “If she’s actually paying the debt or hasn’t defaulted on the debt, I think it would be very unusual to be held up because of that.”

It is rumored that the White House’s preferred pick is a Black man, Henry Coker. Coker was a top official at both the National Security Agency and the CIA and is also highly regarded, a source told the Washington Post. As it relates to the cybersecurity field, several experts see a delay in naming a permanent director as a bad sign. In a letter to Jeff Zients, a coalition of industry advocacy groups and non-profit cyber organizations wrote: “We are concerned that the delay in nominating a candidate for the National Cyber Director role could impede the great work accomplished under Director Inglis and Acting Director Walden, hinder the implementation of the National Strategy, and jeopardize the effectiveness of the ONCD.”