The Aspen Institute

Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russian troops stand at the border of Ukraine in a pivotal moment for the young democracy. Meanwhile, governments, industry, and the public brace for potential escalation at the border—and the keyboard. In this session, leading intelligence and security experts will discuss how a cyber conflict might unfold and what it might mean for Ukraine—and the world.

• Keynote by Jen Easterly, Director, CISA
• Sandra Joyce, EVP and Head of Global Intelligence, Mandiant
• Herb Lin, Senior Research Scholar, Center for International Security and Cooperation; Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security, Hoover Institution
• Moderated by Chris Krebs, Former Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; Senior Newmark Fellow in Cybersecurity Policy, Aspen Digital

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Jen Easterly is the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Ms. Easterly was nominated by President Biden in April 2021 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on July 12, 2021. As Director, Ms. Easterly leads CISA’s efforts to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every day. Before serving in her current role, Ms. Easterly was the head of Firm Resilience at Morgan Stanley, responsible for ensuring preparedness and response to business-disrupting operational incidents and risks to the Firm. Ms. Easterly has a long tradition of public service, to include two tours at the White House, most recently as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Director for Counterterrorism. She also served as the Deputy for Counterterrorism at the National Security Agency. A two-time recipient of the Bronze Star, Ms. Easterly retired from the U.S. Army after more than twenty years of service in intelligence and cyber operations, including tours of duty in Haiti, the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Responsible for standing up the Army’s first cyber battalion, Ms. Easterly was also instrumental in the design and creation of United States Cyber Command. A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Ms. Easterly holds a master’s degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She is the recipient of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation American Hostage Freedom Award and the Bradley W. Snyder Changing the Narrative Award. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a French-American Foundation Young Leader, Ms. Easterly is the past recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship, the National Security Institute Visiting Fellowship, the New America Foundation Senior International Security Fellowship, the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship, and the Director, National Security Agency Fellowship.

Sandra Joyce, as EVP and Head of Global Intelligence at Mandiant, oversees intelligence collection, research, analysis and support services for threat intelligence customers and the Mandiant security product portfolio. Sandra has held positions in product management, business development and intelligence research over the course of over 23 years in both national security and commercial industry. Sandra serves in the US Air Force Reserve and is a faculty member at the National Intelligence University. She completed her MBA at MIT and holds a bachelor’s degree in German with four master’s degrees in cyber-policy, international affairs, science and technology intelligence, and military operational art and science. Sandra speaks English, Spanish and German and lives in Virginia.

Dr. Herb Lin is Senior Research Scholar for Cyber Policy and Security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, and the Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution, both at Stanford University.  In addition to these positions, he is also Chief Scientist, Emeritus for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies, where from 1990 to 2014 he served as Study Director of major projects on public policy and information technology. He is also a member of the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. His research interests relate broadly to policy-related dimensions of cybersecurity and cyberspace. Dr. Lin is particularly interested in the use of offensive operations in cyberspace as instruments of national policy and in the security dimensions of information warfare and influence operations on national security.  He has also published studies in cognitive science and science education. He received his doctorate in physics from MIT.

Chris Krebs is a founding partner of the Krebs Stamos Group, Senior Newmark Fellow in Cybersecurity Policy at Aspen Digital, and previously served as the first director of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). As Director, Mr. Krebs oversaw CISA’s efforts to manage risk to the nation’s businesses and government agencies, bringing together partners to collectively defend against cyber and physical threats. At CISA, Mr. Krebs also pioneered the Rumor Control program, which was designed to counter disinformation campaigns. Before serving as CISA Director, Mr. Krebs served in various roles at the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for a range of cybersecurity, critical infrastructure and national resilience issues. Prior to his time at DHS, he directed U.S. cybersecurity policy for Microsoft. He also served in the George W. Bush Administration, advising DHS leadership on domestic and international risk management and public-private partnership initiatives. Mr. Krebs holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.