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Kemba Walden (right) speaks to a crowd at the Aspen Cyber Summit in 2022
Image Credit: Ryan Rose
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.”
Source: Black Enterprise
