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Chris Krebs
Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
In office November 16, 2018 – November 17, 2020
President	Donald Trump
Deputy	Matthew Travis
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	TBD
Under Secretary of Homeland Security for the National Protection and Programs Directorate
In office June 15, 2018 – November 15, 2018 Acting: July 24, 2017 – June 15, 2018
President	Donald Trump
Deputy	Matthew Travis
Preceded by	George Foresman
Succeeded by	Position dissolved
Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection
In office August 2017 – June 15, 2018
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Caitlin Durkovich
Succeeded by	Brian Harrell
Personal details
Born	(1977-01-30) January 30, 1977 (age 47)
Education	University of Virginia (BS) George Mason University (JD)

Christopher Cox Krebs (born January 30, 1977) is an American attorney who served as the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the United States Department of Homeland Security from November 2018 to November 2020. In November 2020, President Donald Trump fired Krebs for contradicting Trump on the prevalence of election fraud in the 2020 presidential elections.

Education

Krebs earned a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from the University of Virginia in 1999, and a Juris Doctor from the Antonin Scalia Law School (then the George Mason University School of Law) at George Mason University in 2007.

Career

Krebs's professional work has focused on cybersecurity and risk management issues. He served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection, and later worked in the private sector as Director for Cybersecurity Policy for Microsoft.

In March 2017, he became Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security. In August 2017, he was appointed Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, and performed the duties of the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for National Protection and Programs until he was confirmed to that position on a permanent basis on June 15, 2018. In November 2018, the National Protection and Programs Directorate was replaced by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Krebs remained as director of the agency.

It was reported that Krebs was being considered to serve as Acting Secretary of Homeland Security after the departure of Kevin McAleenan, although he was reported to be uninterested in the position.

On November 12, 2020, it was reported that Krebs expected to be fired from his position; in part, this expectation was due to Krebs's role in creating a CISA website to debunk election-related disinformation, much of which was being promoted by President Donald Trump and his allies. As CISA's director, Krebs was the "administration's most senior cybersecurity official responsible for securing the presidential election". Sidney Powell, an attorney for Trump and Michael Flynn, asserted on the Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo Fox News programs that a secret government supercomputer program had switched votes from Trump to Biden in the election, a claim Krebs dismissed as "nonsense" and a "hoax."

On November 17, 2020, Krebs said in a tweet that "59 election security experts all agree, 'in every case of which we are aware, these claims (of fraud) either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.'" Trump fired Krebs via Twitter the same day. Trump declared in the tweet that he was firing Krebs because "The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud." Several Republican Senators criticized Trump's decision to dismiss Krebs.

Explanatory notes

1. Office largely a continuation of that of the DHS Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate which ceased to exist on November 15, 2018.
2. As the Senior Official Performing the Duties of Under Secretary

References

1. ^ "Christopher C. Krebs". Department of Homeland Security. September 5, 2017. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
2. ^ Zakrzewski, Cat; Inzaurralde, Bastien (November 16, 2020). "The Cybersecurity 202: Trump set to make a new DHS agency the top federal cyber cop". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
3. ^ "President Trump Signs Law Establishing DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency". Water ISAC. November 20, 2018. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
4. Macias, Amanda (November 18, 2020). "Trump says DHS cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs has been terminated". CNBC. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
5. @realDonaldTrump (November 17, 2020). "Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
6. "Christopher C. Krebs". Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency. November 17, 2020. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020.
7. "Nomination of Christopher C. Krebs to be Under Secretary, National Protection and Programs Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security" (PDF). Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate. April 25, 2018. p. 36.
8. Restuccia, Michelle; Hackman, Andrew (October 21, 2019). "White House Personnel Director Tells Trump Top DHS Secretary Picks Ineligible for Job". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
9. Kanno-Youngs, Zolan; Haberman, Maggie (October 21, 2019). "Trump Running Out of Options for Homeland Security Secretary". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
10. Geller, Eric (November 12, 2020). "Top cyber official expecting to be fired as White House frustrations hit agency protecting elections". Politico. Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
11. Bing, Christopher; Menn, Joseph; Satter, Raphael (November 12, 2020). "Exclusive: Top official on U.S. election cybersecurity tells associates he expects to be fired". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
12. Sanger, David E.; Perlroth, Nicole (November 18, 2020). "Trump Fires Christopher Krebs, Official Who Disputed Election Fraud Claims". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
13. Fichera, Angelo; Spencer, Saranac Hale (November 13, 2020). "Bogus Theory Claims Supercomputer Switched Votes in Election". FactCheck.org. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
14. ^ Nakashima, Ellen; Miroff, Nick (November 17, 2020). "Trump fires top DHS official who refuted his claims that the election was rigged". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
15. Sanger, David E. (November 18, 2020). "Trump fires Christopher Krebs, whose agency disputed president's false claims of election fraud". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
16. Geller, Eric. "'Confusion and chaos': Republicans denounce Trump's latest purge". Politico. Retrieved November 18, 2020.

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Chris Krebs on Twitter
• [REDACTED] Media related to Christopher C. Krebs at Wikimedia Commons

• Antonin Scalia Law School alumni
• Living people
• Microsoft employees
• Trump administration personnel
• United States Department of Homeland Security officials
• University of Virginia alumni