Lauren Zabierek, former Executive Director of the Cyber Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, has been appointed Senior Policy Advisor with the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Zabierek was tapped for the agency position directly from the Belfer Center where she was Acting Executive Director following several years as head of the Center’s Cyber Project.
“Lauren is a true American hero,” said Belfer Center Co-Director Eric Rosenbach. “From her previous service in the Air Force, to her work in the Intelligence Community, to her loss as a Gold Star Sister, to her work here at the Belfer Center, Lauren has always strived to make the world a better place. CISA and the country are lucky to have her working at DHS.”
In announcing Zabierek’s appointment, CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a tweet, “We’re excited to welcome our newest team member, Senior Policy Advisor Lauren Zabierek! She chose CISA for the ability to ‘work on hard cybersecurity policy challenges facing our nation.’” Easterly noted that Zabierek’s expertise includes having co-founded and organized the highly successful online social media movement #ShareTheMicInCyber, which aims to dismantle racism in cybersecurity and privacy.
In her new role, Zabierek will serve as a member of the senior leadership team in CISA’s Cybersecurity Division and as a senior advisor to the Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity, Eric Goldstein. She will serve as a thought leader, bringing creative and strategic thinking to cyber policy challenges, and execute on solutions to help achieve CISA’s national mission. She will also advise on ad hoc policy issues as they arise from within CISA, from Congress, and from the administration.
Prior to her work with the Belfer Center, Zabierek served in the military and in the private sector. She was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force at the beginning of her career. Later, as a civilian intelligence analyst with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) assigned to the Office of Counterterrorism, she completed three war zone deployments. After leaving NGA, she joined the cybersecurity threat intelligence startup Recorded Future and was instrumental in building its public sector business practice.
As part of the Department of Homeland Security, CISA’s mission to to lead the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to cyber and physical infrastructure in the U.S. The agency “connects stakeholders in industry and government to each other and to resources, analyses, and tools to help them build their own cyber, communications, and physical security and resilience, in turn helping to ensure a secure and resilient infrastructure for the American people.”