(The Center Square) – Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has rescinded a job offer at the U.S. Military Academy for a former Biden administration official.
Jen Easterly, a West Point graduate and former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under the Biden administration, had been tapped to serve as the Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in the school’s Department of Social Sciences.
Driscoll sent a memo on Wednesday he later posted on social media terminating the gratuitous service agreement with Easterly that led to her hiring. He also “immediately” paused nongovernmental and outside groups from selecting employees of the academy, including instructors, professors, teachers, and shaping academic or developmental lectures.
Driscoll also called on U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the U.S. Military Academy Board, to conduct a “top down” review of West Point’s hiring practices.
West Point, about 50 miles north of New York City, describes the McDermott Chair as a “prestigious position established to bring senior leaders to West Point who can bridge scholarship and practice, preparing future military officers to lead in an increasingly complex world.”
Easterly, a two time Bronze star recipient, has been credited with expanding the $3 billion cybersecurity agency with more than 10,000 personnel into becoming a key force in defending the digital front lines of national security. She also established U.S. Cyber Command and was credited for building the Army’s first “cyber battalion” during her tenure in the federal government.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the decision to rescind the teaching job, posting on social media that West Point isn’t “turning cadets into censorship activists.”
“We’re turning them into warriors and leaders,” Parnell said Wednesday. “We’re in the business of warfighting. Our future officers will get the most elite training so that America can continue to dominate on the battlefield.”
