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‘I Am Now More Concerned About the Formidable Threat From China.’

The United States’ and Canada’s chief cyberdefenders talk adversaries and AI.

By , a reporter at Foreign Policy.
A photo illusration shows Jen Easterly and Sami Khoury, the U.S. and Canadian cyberchiefs, atop a background of digital code.
A photo illusration shows Jen Easterly and Sami Khoury, the U.S. and Canadian cyberchiefs, atop a background of digital code.
Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Sami Khoury, the head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. Foreign Policy illustration/Getty Images and courtesy of the Billington Cybersecurity Summit

Jen Easterly and Sami Khoury, the top U.S. and Canadian cybersecurity officials, respectively, have lived almost parallel lives over the past year. They both assumed their current roles within a month of each other in 2021, heading relatively new government agencies that were both created in 2018. As neighbors and allies, they work closely together and share the same mission, against the same adversaries.

Rishi Iyengar is a reporter at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @Iyengarish

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Tags: Canada, China, Cyber Security & Hacking, North America, Russia, Science and Technology, United States

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