Veteran intelligence officer Vanessa Lloyd has been named interim director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service for six months or until a new director of CSIS is appointed.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced her appointment Friday, praising the CSIS veteran.
“Ms. Lloyd has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to protecting Canada, Canadians and our interests over her 26-year career at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service,” Leblanc said in his announcement.
“Building on her extensive experience, as well as the tireless work of the outgoing Director (David Vigneault), I have every confidence that she has what it takes to steer the work of this pivotal organization over the course of her term,” LeBlanc added.
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Lloyd has led efforts to increase operational capacity at CSIS and promote what LeBlanc’s announcement called “a culture of innovation, candour and compliance within the organization’s operational directorate.”
She came out of the shadows last year and appeared in a photo post by CSIS on X (formerly Twitter).
In it, she was quoted as saying: “Hostile state actors have become increasingly belligerent and emboldened to advance their agendas in both the physical and cyber realms in any way necessary, while seeking to challenge those who challenge their narrative.”
Lloyd joined CSIS in 1998 as an intelligence officer.
Since then, she has steadily climbed the ranks of Canada’s civilian spy agency into management roles.
She has been Deputy Director of Operations at CSIS since the spring of 2023, the number two job.
In that role, she was the leader of the spy agency’s human intelligence collection and analysis, security screening and threat reduction efforts.
Originally from Winnipeg, Lloyd grew up in Kingston, Ont., and has previously served as the spy agency’s chief transformation officer.
After starting her career at CSIS headquarters in Ottawa, Lloyd went on to work for eight years as a field investigator, supervisor and senior manager in CSIS’s Toronto Region.
She has also worked in the counterintelligence and counterproliferation sectors and has worked as a director general of the agency’s human intelligence collection and security program.