Senate panel advances Trump’s national cyber director nominee

Sean Cairncross, then-CEO Millenium Challenge Corporation, speaks onstage during the 2019 Concordia Annual Summit on September 24, 2019 in New York City. The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted June 30 to advance Cairncross's nomination to serve as the national cyber director. Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit

The Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced Sean Cairncross to be national cyber director under President Donald Trump in an 11-4 vote on Monday, bringing him one step closer to confirmation in the full Senate.

Sens. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., John Fetterman, D-Pa. and Andy Kim, D-N.J. voted no. 

Cairncross is a former Republican National Committee official and was CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation agency under Trump’s first term. As national cyber director, he would be tasked with overseeing an office first stood up under Biden that has served as a key public-facing White House cyber policy ...