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Chris Krebs

Former Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

Chris Krebs's headshot.

Chris Krebs is the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate in the Department of Homeland Security, where he oversees the cyber and physical infrastructure security mission for the Department. He is concurrently filling the role of Assistant Secretary for the Office of Infrastructure Protection, to which he was appointed by the President in August 2017. As Assistant Secretary, he leads NPPD’s mission on issues such as preventing complex mass attacks, securing high-risk chemicals, and other areas related to cyber and physical infrastructure resilience. This includes serving as the national coordinator for the critical infrastructure security and resilience mission and directly managing 6 of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors outlined in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. The 16 sectors cover a complex and interconnected range of infrastructure, such as commercial facilities, emergency services, chemical facilities, nuclear facilities and government facilities including the 2017 addition of an election infrastructure subsector. Mr. Krebs joined the Department of Homeland Security in March 2017, serving as Senior Counselor to the Secretary, where he advised DHS leadership on a range of cybersecurity, critical infrastructure protection, and national resilience issues. Prior to coming to DHS, Krebs was a member of Microsoft’s US Government Affairs team as Director for Cybersecurity Policy, where he led Microsoft’s U.S. policy work on cybersecurity and technology issues. Before Microsoft, Krebs advised industry and Federal, State, and local government customers on range of cybersecurity and risk management issues. This the second time he has worked at the Department, previously serving as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection and playing a formative role in a number of national and international risk management programs. He holds a Bachelors in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University.