Trump orders revocation of security clearances for Chris Krebs, SentinelOne
US President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order on Wednesday to revoke security clearance held by Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and his colleagues at SentinelOne.
“The Order also suspends any active security clearance held by individuals at entities associated with Krebs, including SentinelOne, pending a review of whether such clearances are consistent with the national interest,” the White House announced.
The EO also effectively orders the US Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to review CISA’s activities over the last 6 years, including Krebs’ activities while at the agency, which he helmed from November 2018 to November 2020.
Krebs was ousted from the job after he stated that there wasn’t election interference during the 2020 US presidential election, as claimed by the current president. (CISA was in charge of securing the 2020 presidential election, which resulted in Trump losing to former President Joe Biden.)
He subsequently started the cybersecurity consultancy Krebs Stamos Group, which was acquired by SentinelOne in 2023. Krebs was also on DHS’s Cyber Safety Review Board from May 2024 until January 2025, when the body was effectively disbanded after President Trump’s inauguration. He is generally well-regarded among cybersecurity professionals.
SentinelOne comments the EO
SentinelOne is one of the larges cybersecurity firms in the US, and Krebs is currently its Chief Intelligence and Public Policy Officer.
The company has responded to the EO by saying that the company’s “mission is to defend customers, enterprises, and governments against cyber threats” and that they view the White House as a crucial collaborator on that mission and that they will continue “to support a strong America at a time of heightened geopolitical threats.”
“In regard to the Executive Order dated April 9, 2025 focused on Chris Krebs in his prior role as a government employee, we will actively cooperate in any review of security clearances held by any of our personnel – currently less than 10 employees overall and only where required by existing government processes and procedures to secure government systems. Accordingly, we do not expect this to materially impact our business in any way,” the company concluded.
While this may be true, the fear is that the EO could have a chilling effect on other companies in the cybersecurity industry.
Krebs did not officially comment the news, though he re-surfaced an old post on X (formerly Twitter) saying, “Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure Tomrorow [sic]. #Protect2020”.
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