Jen Easterly
Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Jen Easterly was nominated to her position by President Joe Biden in April 2021 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 12, 2021. As director, she oversees CISA’s efforts to manage risk to the nation’s cyber and physical infrastructure.
Before CISA, Easterly was the head of firm resilience at Morgan Stanley, where she also was the first global head of the company’s Cybersecurity Fusion Center. She also served two tours at the White House, most recently as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for counterterrorism. Before that, she was executive assistant to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. Easterly was also the deputy for counterterrorism at the National Security Agency.
Why Watch
Easterly on Aug. 29 spoke at CISA’s Chemical Security Summit, where she urged Congress to reauthorize the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program. Easterly said the program has improved high-risk facility postures by 60%.
“It really is fundamentally about protecting our communities, and given how important chemicals are in our everyday lives it really [is]about ensuring that the economic foundation of our society can continue to thrive but to do so in a safe and secure way,” Easterly said, according to MeriTalk.