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As Director of the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly is one of several women at the very top of the cybersecurity pyramid in the United States. A graduate of West Point, decorated U.S. Army officer, and a Rhodes Scholar, Jen has served her country in a plethora of senior cybersecurity and counterterrorism roles, and most recently before her return to government, was the head of Firm Resilience at Morgan Stanley. 

David Kris, Lawfare contributor and former Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division, and Bryan Cunningham, Lawfare contributor and Executive Director of the University of California, Irvine’s Cybersecurity Policy & Research Institute, sat down with Jen to talk about everything cybersecurity, about the need for revolutionary new approaches to emerging threats to our cyber and national security, the recent U.S. National Cyber Strategy, the cyber offense/defense flywheel, and even where her avatar got her cape. Jen also talks about CISA’s priorities for the coming years, new cyber incident reporting requirements, and new cybersecurity help coming to a city near you. 


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Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
David Kris is a founder of Culper Partners, with more than 30 years of experience in the private sector, government, and academia. He has been a corporate director, general counsel, deputy general counsel, and chief compliance officer; assistant attorney general for national security, associate deputy attorney general, and a trial attorney at the Justice Department. He serves on advisory boards for several government agencies and as a FISA Court amicus curiae. He is the author or co-author of several works on national security and teaches national security law. He is a member of the board of directors of Lawfare.
Bryan Cunningham, practicing law at Zweiback, Fiset, & Coleman, LLP, is an international expert in privacy and data protection law, cyber security, trade secrets, employee monitoring, and government surveillance issues. Bryan developed this unique practice through extensive experience in senior U.S. Government intelligence and law enforcement positions. He served as Deputy Legal Adviser to then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. He also served six years in the Clinton Administration, as a senior CIA officer and federal prosecutor. He drafted significant portions of the Homeland Security Act and related legislation, helping to shepherd them through Congress. He was a principal contributor to the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, worked closely with the 9/11 Commission and has provided legal advice to Presidents, National Security Advisors, the National Security Council, and other senior government officials on intelligence, terrorism, cyber security and other related matters. Bryan’s practice has included assisting Fortune 500 and multinational companies to comply with complex, and often conflicting, data protection requirements under U.S. federal law, U.S. state laws, and the numerous specific requirements in the European Union and other overseas jurisdictions. He also has counseled start-ups and other companies in general matters and created and directs a privacy advisory committee for a multi-billion dollar company. As the principal author of legal and ethics chapters in authoritative cyber security textbooks, Bryan is also a frequent media commentator on privacy, cyber security, electronic surveillance, intelligence, and other national security issues. He has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, ABC, Fox, CNBC, NPR, and PBS, and has been published in numerous national newspapers and overseas publications. Bryan is the current Executive Director of the University of California, Irvine’s Cybersecurity Policy & Research Institute. He was founding vice-chair of the American Bar Association Cyber Security Privacy Task Force and was awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement for his work on information issues. He has served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Biodefense Analysis, the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, and the Bipartisan Policy Center Cyber Security Task Force.
Jen Easterly is the Director of the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a decorated U.S. Army officer, and the former head of Firm Resilience at Morgan Stanley. She has served her country in a plethora of senior cybersecurity and counterterrorism roles.