Why She Made the List

Her leadership now places her at the centre of Britain’s intelligence and cyber defence capabilities as hostile states increasingly deploy cyber operations alongside conventional military threats.[cite: 91]

Summary Bio

Anne Keast-Butler is the Director of GCHQ, the United Kingdom’s signals intelligence and cyber security agency, a position she assumed in May 2023 as the first woman to lead the organisation.[cite: 89]

Before becoming Director of GCHQ, Keast-Butler served as Deputy Director General of MI5 from 2021 to 2023, overseeing operational and protective security work including the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[cite: 90] Earlier in her career she spent time on secondment to GCHQ leading counterterrorism and serious organised crime operations.[cite: 90]