The GOP-controlled Senate has given the expected next leader of the nation's cyber defense agency a clear blueprint to follow: stop work on debunking foreign disinformation and focus on the core cybersecurity mission.

Why it matters: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is going through an identity crisis after losing a third of its workforce, including nearly all of its senior leadership, and facing looming budget cuts.

• Former government officials have told Axios that they anticipate the agency will play a smaller, less public role in the cybersecurity ecosystem as a result.

Driving the news: Sean Plankey, President Trump's pick to lead CISA, testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee today, alongside three other political nominees.

• The hearing marked the first time Plankey has spoken publicly about his plans for CISA.

Zoom in: Plankey told senators that his vision for the agency is to "restore CISA to its congressional authorities" and "focus on the missions that this body tasked it with."

• Sharing the hearing with three nominees for non-cybersecurity positions meant Plankey didn't have much time to share detailed plans. But he did indicate he intends to keep Trump-era changes that have shrunk the agency's mandate.
• "Cybersecurity is a big enough problem," Plankey said in response to a question from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). "If confirmed, I need my people at CISA to be focused on eradicating those adversaries from the federal government computer systems as well as critical infrastructure in the United States."
• Plankey also said he supports reauthorizing the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015, which expires on Sept. 30 and provides liability protections to companies that share threat intelligence with the U.S. government.
• He also supports providing new funds to the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. The program's initial funding also runs out at the end of the fiscal year.

The big picture: CISA has been a political football ever since November 2020, when then-director Chris Krebs was fired for calling the 2020 presidential election the "most secure in American history."

• Trump's DOJ has opened an investigation into Krebs and his time at the agency.

Between the lines: GOP lawmakers' critiques of the agency's past work debunking foreign-backed election disinformation were on full display at the morning's hearing.

• "The good news is you're not completely insane, which already makes you dramatically more qualified than your predecessor," Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told Plankey during the hearing.
• Hawley urged Plankey to get CISA "out of the speech-regulation business" and to focus on "stopping cyberattacks" — which Plankey agreed to do.
• Plankey declined to answer a question from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) about whether he believed the 2020 election was rigged. "I have not reviewed any of the cybersecurity of the 2020 election," he said.

Yes, but: Detangling foreign-backed disinformation from cyberattacks is a tough task in the modern age of cyber warfare.

• Russia, China and Iran each have extensive playbooks that mix disinformation campaigns with traditional hacks.

The intrigue: Plankey, a former cyber official at the Energy Department and the first Trump White House, has garnered widespread support from the private sector and ex-government leaders.

What to watch: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has placed a hold on Plankey's nomination, pending the release of an unclassified agency report detailing "U.S. phone carriers' failure to follow cybersecurity best practices."

• The hold will block senators from approving Plankey's nomination via unanimous consent whenever it reaches the Senate floor.
• "The Trump administration might not have been paying attention, so I'll say it again: I will not lift my hold on Mr. Plankey's nomination until this report is public," Wyden said in a statement today.
• "It's ridiculous that CISA seems more concerned with covering up phone companies' negligent cybersecurity than it is with protecting Americans from Chinese hackers," he added.

What's next: The Senate Homeland Security Committee is scheduled to vote to send Plankey's nomination to the floor on Wednesday.