Suzanne Spaulding

Senior Adviser, Homeland Security, International Security Program
Suzanne Spaulding

Suzanne Spaulding is senior adviser for homeland security and director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She also serves as a member of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Previously, she served as undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she led the National Protection and Programs Directorate, now called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), managing a $3 billion budget and a workforce of 18,000 that is charged with strengthening cybersecurity and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure. Ms. Spaulding has worked in the executive branch in Republican and Democratic administrations and on both sides of the aisle in Congress. She was general counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and minority staff director for the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She also spent six years at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was assistant general counsel and the legal adviser to the director’s Nonproliferation Center. She was executive director of two congressionally created commissions, on weapons of mass destruction and on terrorism. Following the attacks of 9/11, Ms. Spaulding worked with key critical infrastructure sectors as they reviewed their security posture and advised the CEOs of the Business Roundtable. In 2002, she was appointed by Governor Mark Warner of Virginia to the Secure Commonwealth Panel to advise the governor and the legislature regarding preparedness issues. She was managing partner of the Harbour Group, a principal in the Bingham Consulting Group, and of counsel to Bingham McCutchen LLP. In addition to her work at CSIS, Ms. Spaulding currently serves on a number of corporate boards and advisory boards and is a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group (HSEG).

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We Hold These Truths: How Verified Content Defends Democracies

Please join the CSIS International Security Program for the “We Hold These Truths: How Verified Content Defends Democracies” event on March 27 at 9 am EDT.

Event by Emily Harding , Suzanne Spaulding , Ambassador Beth Van Schaack , Dana Rao , Jessica Brandt , Dr. Matthew Turek , Andrew Jenks , Andy Parsons , and Mounir Ibrahim — March 27, 2023

Innovation for Resilience

Please join CSIS for its "Innovation for Resilience" report rollout event. 

 

Event by Caitlin Durkovich , and Stephanie LaRue , Benjamin DeAngelo , Robert Costello , John Costello , Alice Hill , Suzanne Spaulding , Emily Harding , Hadeil Ali , Joseph Majkut , James Andrew Lewis , Bob Kolasky — March 23, 2023

Innovation for Resilience

Resilience is important for mitigating emerging risks with greater agility, but the associated implications, costs, and needed reforms are not as clearly understood. This CSIS study examines U.S. government efforts aimed at improving national resilience.

Report by Suzanne Spaulding , Emily Harding , Hadeil Ali , Joseph Majkut , Harshana Ghoorhoo , Morgan Higman , Devi Nair , Naz Subah , and Sophia Barkoff — March 23, 2023

Press Briefing: Previewing the 2023 Summit for Democracy

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) will host a call-in press briefing to preview the second Summit for Democracy, which the United States will co-host with the governments of Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, and Republic of Zambia, on March 29-30, 2023.

Event by ​Marti Flacks , Suzanne Spaulding , and Christopher Hernandez-Roy — March 22, 2023

Investing in Federal Cyber Resilience

Cybersecurity is an exercise in risk management, not risk elimination. A focus on managing consequences as an element of risk makes a system more resilient. The federal government has an important role to play in leading and supporting efforts to enhance cyber resilience.

Commentary by Suzanne Spaulding , Devi Nair , and Sophia Barkoff — February 24, 2023

The Truth of the Matter

Disinformation and the Midterm Election

CSIS’s Suzanne Spaulding, former Undersecretary of Homeland Security joins the podcast to discuss disinformation (foreign and domestic) surrounding the midterm election and its impacts.

Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Suzanne Spaulding — November 3, 2022

CSIS the truth of the matter