Kemba Eneas
Kemba Walden is the Acting National Cyber Director in the Office of the National Cyber Director.
Kemba served as the inaugural Principal Deputy National Cyber Director for eight months, during which she co-led the organization, overseeing the development and growth of the office. During her tenure, the Office of the National Cyber Director drafted and released the National Cybersecurity Strategy, managed the ongoing implementation of Executive Order 14028 (Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity), and spearheaded the development of the forthcoming, first-ever National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy.
Previously, she served as Assistant General Counsel in Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), where she launched and led DCU’s Ransomware Program. Kemba also served as a Working Group Co-Chair of the White House Ransomware Task Force and contributed to its Combating Ransomware Report. Kemba started her Microsoft career as Senior Counsel for Cyber and Democracy, providing legal counsel to the Defending Democracy Program for the 2020 election cycle.
Prior to Microsoft, Kemba spent a decade in government service at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). At DHS, Kemba held several counsel positions, including as the lead attorney for the DHS Representative to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). She also served as a cybersecurity attorney for the newly created Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and its predecessor, the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD). CISA and NPPD were responsible for cybersecurity, emergency communications, and infrastructure security. While serving at DHS, Kemba negotiated complex data protection, information sharing, risk mitigation, and national security agreements, and she supported DHS’s cybersecurity and risk management efforts in several critical infrastructure sectors. After DHS, Kemba was the primary cybersecurity legal advisor to the Elections Task Force, now known as the Elections Security Initiative.
Kemba was also appointed as an inaugural member of the Cyber Safety Review Board and serves as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in the School of Continuing Studies.
Kemba received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, her Master’s in Public Affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, and her B.A. in Political Science from Hampton University.