The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday officially announced the appointment of Madhu Gottumukkala as its new deputy director.
Gottumukkala previously served as Commissioner and Chief Information Officer for South Dakota’s Bureau of Information and Technology, which in April thanked Gottumukkala for his service and announced that he had been named the cybersecurity agency’s deputy director.
Prior to the state of South Dakota, Gottumukkala held leadership roles in the private sector, including at Sanford Health, CallHealth, and Polycom.
“As a former state and local leader, I have seen firsthand the exceptional work CISA does in advancing our nation’s cybersecurity and infrastructure resilience,” said Gottumukkala. “I look forward to building on that foundation by fostering collaboration and strengthening resilience across all levels of government and the private sector.
“Together, through trusted partnerships, transparency, and shared responsibility, we can better manage systemic risks and safeguard the critical functions that ensure our nation’s safety and prosperity,” he added.
CISA still does not have a director. Bridget Bean has served as acting director since the departure of Jen Easterly.
Sean Plankey, who previously held key cyber roles at the Energy Department and the White House, has been nominated by the Trump administration to lead CISA.
However, Senator Ron Wyden has blocked Plankey’s nomination. Wyden wants CISA to publicly release an unclassified report created in 2022 that describes weaknesses in US telecoms networks.
China-linked threat actors targeted several major US telcos in recent years in an effort to obtain sensitive information, including the communications of senior US government officials and prominent political figures.
The White House recently proposed to cut CISA’s budget by $491 million on the grounds that the agency has become a “censorship industrial complex” at the expense of cyber defense.
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