Trump announces a new nominee to lead CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency finally has a new nominee for director. President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Michael LoSapio, chief information security officer at Palantir, for the role. CISA has been without a Senate-confirmed director for the entirety of Trump’s second term. Sean Plankey, Trump’s first pick for the role, withdrew his nomination in April after an extended delay in his confirmation.

A collection of federal agencies signed an agreement that will further expand ongoing interagency efforts to safely counter and intercept rogue drone threats in civilian airspace. The departments of Defense, Transportation, Homeland Security, Energy and Justice signed a new memorandum of understanding that outlines a more unified federal process to test and deploy counter-drone technologies in the U.S., according to a press release published Monday. It comes as the government scurries to respond to a recent surge in unauthorized drone incursions over American military bases and sensitive national security sites — including Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. Officials wrote in a joint statement: “Through this whole-of-government approach, the agencies are strengthening collaboration to adapt to the latest drone threats while ensuring these technologies do not adversely affect aircraft operations or navigation equipment.”

Also in this episode: Form.io CEO Gary Wetzel explains why government digital intake forms need to be viewed as far more than visual templates but rather as complex gateways to enterprise backend systems. While agencies often struggle with legacy PDFs, rigid third-party platforms, and separate front-end and back-end development, Wetzel argues forms must be treated fundamentally as APIs that should reside natively within agency IT environments. Form.io addresses this challenge by utilizing a unified, self-hosted JSON data structure that synchronizes front-end rendering directly with backend database schemas. Proven by deployments like Pay.gov, this embedded middleware approach simplifies data collection, accelerates digital modernization, and enforces strict public-sector security and compliance standards. Listen to the entire interview. This segment was sponsored by Form.io.

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