Trump taps Palantir security chief to run battered US cyber defense agency
President Donald Trump has nominated Palantir security chief Michael LoSapio to lead CISA, putting an executive from the controversial government supplier in line to run America's civilian cyber defense agency.
- In the UK, WhatsApp messages obtained by campaign group Foxglove this week indicate that Palantir privately lobbied a health minister to consider extending its software into GP patient records, despite that data being expressly excluded from its £330 million NHS England contract for the Federated Data Platform.
- It's now trying to plug the gaps, although acting director Nick Andersen said in September that around 250 would-be recruits were still waiting for security clearance before they could get to work.
- A strategy published last month emphasizes infrastructure whose failure would do the most damage, raising questions about what gets less attention as the agency operates with fewer staff.
If confirmed, LoSapio would move from securing Palantir's systems to leading the federal government's main civilian cyber defense agency.
Palantir, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, has become a major supplier of technology to US government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- If the Senate does not confirm LoSapio before the current Congress ends, Trump would have to nominate him again for consideration by the incoming Democratic-controlled Senate.
- It's unclear whether LoSapio plans to leave Palantir or what would happen to any financial interests he holds in the company if confirmed.
- LoSapio has served as Palantir's CISO since September 2024, having previously led the company's infrastructure and network security team.
- He first joined the data analytics outfit in 2013, later spent a spell at database company SingleStore, and returned to Palantir in 2017.
- CISA has shed more than 1,000 staff, roughly a third of its workforce, since Trump returned to the White House, according to reports.
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