President Biden has nominated U.S. Army veterans John Tien and Jen Easterly to serve as deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), respectively.
Tien has been a managing director at Citigroup since 2011 and served as senior director for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the National Security Council (NSC) during the Obama administrations, the White House said Monday. He also served in active duty for 24 years prior to retiring with the rank of colonel in 2011.
Easterly currently serves as head of firm resilience and the Fusion Resilience Center at Morgan Stanley where she oversees risk response and preparedness in support of the firm’s operations.
She spent over 20 years at the Army where she helped lead intelligence and cyber initiatives including the creation of the service branch’s first cyber battalion. She also held leadership roles at the White House and the National Security Agency and served as cyber policy lead for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ transition team.
In addition, Biden also nominated Robert Silvers, a partner at Paul Hastings LLP and a 2021 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, for undersecretary for strategy, policy and plans. Silvers previously held senior official roles at DHS including deputy chief of staff and assistant secretary for cyber policy.
Other DHS nominees include Ur Jaddou for director of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Chris Magnus for commissioner of Customs and Border Protection and Jonathan Meyer for general counsel.
