Cyber & Hybrid Defence, Cyber & Hybrid Security, Cyber & Hybrid War
Mr. Christian-Marc Lifländer serves as the senior cyber policy official of NATO’s International Staff. As head of the Cyber & Hybrid Policy Section, he is responsible for leading the development and implementation of cyber defence policy across NATO. Before joining NATO, Mr. Lifländer held executive and senior advisory level positions within the Estonian Ministry of Defence, including Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Defence Policy, Director of Policy Planning, and Adviser to the Minister of Defence. Mr. Lifländer also served as a Defence Counselor at the Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in the United States and as a Defence Counselor at the Delegation of the Republic of Estonia to NATO. He received a direct commission in the Estonian Defense Forces (Infantry) and has been awarded the Estonian Defence Forces Distinguished Service Decoration as well as Distinguished Service Decorations of the Estonian Ministry of Defence. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering from the United States Military Academy, West Point. Mr. Lifländer received his Master of Arts in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies (CSS) in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Mr. Christian-Marc Lifländer is concerned whether the West is like the metaphorical frog in hot water amid an increasing number of cyberattacks. Rather than engaging in activities that would halt this increase, he says it seems “we are kind of deterred by ourselves.”
An Estonian who speaks five languages, with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from West Point and a master’s in security studies from Georgetown University, Lifländer began his career in cyber policy with his country’s Ministry of Defence — including for three years at its embassy in the United States — before moving to Brussels more than a decade ago.
Today he is praised as “one of the most experienced and expert individuals at NATO on cyber,” by Paul Chichester, the director for operations at the U.K.’s National Cyber Security Centre and the country’s senior cyber expert with NATO, who also credits Lifländer with making “a unique contribution to the defence of NATO as an enterprise and an alliance.”