Army secretary rescinds leadership offer to Jen Easterly amid censorship concerns
- Army Secretary Dan Driscoll directed West Point to rescind a leadership offer to Jen Easterly due to leaked internal emails.
- The emails revealed censorship pressure from the government on tech firms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- This decision is part of a broader effort to ensure military academies maintain independence from external influences.
In the United States, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced a significant decision on July 30, 2025, to rescind a leadership offer to Jen Easterly, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) during the Biden administration. This decision followed revelations of leaked internal emails from various tech companies, indicating that they faced pressure from the government to censor information related to COVID-19 and vaccines. The internal communications suggested that while some executives resisted, others complied with the pressures. Jen Easterly, who has a background as an Army intelligence officer and contributed to establishing the U.S. Cyber Command at the NSA, was to serve as the Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair in Social Sciences at West Point. However, the circumstances surrounding potential government influence on tech censorship influenced the Army Secretary's choice to revoke the offer. Furthermore, Driscoll directed West Point to cease collaborations with non-governmental and outside entities for selecting employees, including instructors and professors, to ensure a more direct control over the hiring practices at the academy. In light of these events, the U.S. Military Academy's Board of Visitors is set to conduct a comprehensive review of hiring practices. Driscoll's actions highlight a deliberate effort to prepare future military officers adequately for modern challenges on the battlefield while responding to recent scrutiny regarding censorship and free speech issues associated with government influence on private companies. The Secretary emphasized crafting a careful approach ahead of the upcoming academic year to align with the values of academic independence and integrity in officer development. This situation reflects ongoing controversies regarding the balance between government regulation, free speech, and accountability of tech firms, particularly in how they handle information during public crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision taken by Driscoll emanates from a desire to distance the military institution from any potential implications of these issues, ensuring that educational practices remain untainted by political pressures.