On May 16, the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative hosted the event “Lessons from Our Cyber Past: The First Cyber Cops,” a discussion with Steven R. Chabinsky, Shawn Henry, and Christopher M. Painter.

Jason Healey, director of the Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, moderated the discussion.

To build a more cohesive history of cyber statecraft, the Atlantic Council has convened a series of events addressing lessons learned from the history of cyberspace.

This event, the second of the series, featured a discussion with three pioneers in the field of law enforcement in cyberspace, and addressed the questions: what were the “wake up calls” in the field, how has cyber crime (and law enforcement responses to it) evolved over the years, and what lessons are there for today? The first event, “The First Cyber Military Units,” was held on March 5, 2012.

Steve Chabinsky is currently deputy assistant director for the FBI’s Cyber Division. In 2009, he returned from a rotational joint duty assignment with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) where he serves as the Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Cyber, the Chair of the National Cyber Study Group, and the Director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force. Mr. Chabinsky previously served as Chief of the Cyber Intelligence Section, FBI, where he led analysis and reporting on terrorism, foreign intelligence, and criminal matters having a cyber threat nexus. A veteran of the FBI for 17 years, in 1998, he became Principal Legal Advisor to the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) and later served as senior counsel to the Cyber Division. Mr. Chabinsky also played a prominent role in the development of InfraGard.Shawn Henry is the President of Crowdstrike Services. He is the former executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Service Branch, of the FBI. He is a 24-year FBI veteran who led some of the Bureau’s biggest cybercrime cases. He was an original member of the National Cyber Study Group, which developed the CNCI. In September 2008, Mr. Henry became assistant director of the Cyber Division, where he played a central role in restructuring the FBI’s cyber strategy and investigative programs. Prior to that, Mr. Henry was deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, with program management responsibility for all FBI computer investigations worldwide.

Chris Painter is the Coordinator for Cyber Issues at the Department of State. He previously served in the White House as Senior Director for Cybersecurity Policy in the National Security Staff, during which time he was a senior member of the team that conducted the President’s Cyberspace Policy Review; served as Acting Cybersecurity Coordinator, and helped coordinate the development of the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace. Mr. Painter began his federal career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles where he led some of the most high profile and significant cybercrime prosecutions in the country, including the prosecution of notorious computer hacker Kevin Mitnick. He subsequently helped lead the case and policy efforts of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section in the U.S. Department of Justice and served, for a short time, as Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division.

Media Mentions