<p>WASHINGTON &mdash; President Joe Biden has selected two former senior National Security Agency officials for key cyber roles in his administration, the White House said Monday.</p>
<p>Chris Inglis, a former NSA deputy director, is being nominated as the government’s first national cyber director. Jen Easterly, a former deputy for counterterrorism at the NSA, has been tapped to run the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security.</p>
<p>The appointments come as the Biden administration grapples with the aftermath of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/solarwinds-hack-email-top-dhs-officials-8bcd4a4eb3be1f8f98244766bae70395">the SolarWinds hack</a>, a breach of federal government agencies and American corporations believed to have been carried out by Russian hackers, and with <a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-politics-national-security-hacking-email-4813d462835dcf54cd1397adb94d468b">an intrusion targeting Microsoft Exchange email software</a>.</p>
<p>“I’m proud of what we are building across the U.S. government when it comes to cyber," <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jake-sullivan">national security adviser Jake Sullivan</a> said in a statement announcing Biden’s plan to nominate Inglis and Easterly. “We are determined to protect America’s networks and to meet the growing challenge posed by our adversaries in cyberspace — and this is the team to do it.”</p>
<p>The planned nominations were first reported by The Washington Post.</p>