Christopher Painter

Christopher Painter

President, The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise; Commissioner, Global Commission on Stability of Cyberspace; Former Coordinator for Cyber Issues, U.S. State Department
@C_Painter

Chris Painter is a globally recognized leader and expert on cybersecurity, cyber policy, Cyber Diplomacy and combatting cybercrime. He has been on the vanguard of US and international cyber issues for over twenty-five years – first as a leading federal prosecutor of some of the most high-profile cybercrime cases in the country, then as a senior official at the Department of Justice, the FBI, the National Security Council and finally as the world’s first top cyber diplomat at the State Department. He has helped drive, initiated or been involved in virtually every major US cyber policy for over a decade and has created innovative new organizations and approaches to deal with threats and take advantage of opportunities in cyberspace. Among other things, he currently serves as a Commissioner on the Global Commission for the Stability of Cyberspace, a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Internet Security and has been named the Bartels World Affairs Fellow for 2017-18 by Cornell University.   In his most recent government role, Mr. Painter coordinated the United States’ diplomatic efforts to advance an open, interoperable, secure and reliable Internet and information infrastructure and advised the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of State on these emerging issues. The pioneering office that Mr. Painter established — the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues — was the first high-level position and office dedicated to advancing the diplomatic aspects cyber issues ranging from national security to human rights matters anywhere in the world.   From 2009-2011, Mr. Painter served in the White House as the first Senior Director for Cyber Policy and Acting Cyber Coordinator in the National Security Council. He advised the President, the National Security Advisor, and the Homeland Security Advisor on a wide range of cyber issues and ran numerous high-level interagency and multi-stakeholder processes to develop US cyber policy.   Mr. Painter has been a frequent media spokesperson and presenter on cyber issues around the globe. He is the recipient of the prestigious RSA Award for Excellence in the Field of Public Policy (2016), the CES Government Technology Leadership Award (2018), the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Intelligence Community Legal Award and has been named to the “Federal 100” list, among other honors. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Cornell University and clerked for US Circuit Judge Betty Fletcher.