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Jane Lute    

Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security & Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the UN; Strategic Director, SICPA SecurInk

Jane Holl Lute has dedicated her career to preventing terrorism, enhancing global stability and security, and assisting those in crisis. With an evolving focus on cybersecurity, she addresses one of today's most significant threats to nations, businesses, and individuals. Lute's remarks on cybersecurity are deeply rooted in her extensive background in international diplomacy and peacebuilding, including her roles at the United Nations where she was pivotal in the Cyprus negotiations and efforts to build sustainable peace in unstable regions. She served as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013, overseeing daily operations and initiatives to prevent terrorism, enhance security, manage the nation’s borders, administer and enforce U.S. immigration laws, strengthen national resilience against disasters, and secure the nation's cybersecurity.

Lute is currently serving as the President and CEO of the Council on CyberSecurity, where she continues her leadership role in enhancing cybersecurity measures. Additionally, she is a director on the board of several major organizations including Union Pacific Railroad, Marsh McLennan Corporation, and Shell plc. Lute's previous tenure as CEO of the Center for Internet Security involved significant contributions towards providing cybersecurity services for U.S. state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. Her leadership extended to overseeing the U.S. Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC).

Jane Lute also engages in public speaking at various prestigious forums, such as the RSA Global Summit, University of Maryland, and Aspen Ideas Festival, sharing insights on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, homeland security, and the role of technology and innovation in global peace operations. Holding a PhD from Stanford University and a JD from Georgetown University, her academic credentials, coupled with her practical experience, make her presentations particularly valuable. Her contributions to discussions on cybersecurity have been noted for their depth and insight, notably receiving positive feedback from institutions like Northern Kentucky University.

Speech Topics

Making Sense of Security in the Cyber Age

While security is typically something that modern societies assign to their governments — governments run the police, the military, make the laws, etc. — there have been no clear or consistent assignments to governments for security in cyberspace. Indeed, governments everywhere are struggling to define and assert their own proper role in cyberspace as the Internet expands at the rate of over 100 new users per minute. How well are nation-states, international institutions, or even the major multinational corporations coping with these developments? What lessons from the post-War decades of institution building and economic development endure and which have not made it out of the 20th Century intact? Drawing on experience in international, national, and homeland security, Lute offers a policy perspective on security in the Cyber Age.

Cybersecurity for the Rest of Us

What exactly is happening in cyberspace? Is the Internet really changing everything? Just how reliant are modern societies on global connectivity, instantaneous access to seemingly limitless information, and deeply pervasive automation that runs everything? What are the social effects of this connectivity — or example, is all of cyberspace ‘public?’ What does it mean to speak of personal privacy or personally identifiable information? What are the most significant political implications of the worldwide ‘cyber awakening’ that is accompanying the ongoing, organic, and instantaneous expansion of the Internet? What is happening at the key intersection of technology, power, and wealth?

Homeland Security and You

Created a dozen years ago in the wake of 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has no problem with brand name recognition. It is continually challenged, however, with brand name understanding. Why do we have DHS? What does it do? How does it work? How will we know it’s succeeding? Is there a difference between National Security and Homeland Security?

Understanding the Global Supply Chain of Trouble: Lessons from Homeland Security

Pandemics, natural disasters, manmade crises, riots, organized crime, war. How do countries cope with challenges that seem to outsize the ability of any government to handle? Drawing on over three decades of operational and policy experience at the national and international level, Lute talks about how governments around the world work behind the scenes of military and diplomatic relations to solve problems every day.

How Do Wars End?

Why do wars end when they do? Why do some wars, it seems, never end? What factors combine to prevent wars from ending? How do events far removed from the battlefield often come to influence policymakers to prolong or preemptively conclude war?

Preventing Violent Conflict

Given mankind’s history of warfare, is it possible to think realistically about how a war might be prevented? Why do certain factors combine to unleash widespread violence in one setting, while in another, war is avoided? How should we think about the outbreak, spread, or resumption of violence in order to preclude wholesale slaughter? Is there a role for civil society, the private sector, or even individuals in preventing the outbreak of violence?

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The Key to Raising Girls: A Lifetime of “Life Lines”

Working Women and Women Who Work: Does the Difference Matter?

Performance Peacekeeping: The Role of Technology and Innovation in Global Peace Operations

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