YouSaid · the spoken record

Chris Krebs

lines on the record
77
first
2022-05-26
most recent
2022-05-26
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1
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podcast

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  1. “I was at the desk or at least on the job until noon on january twentieth of 2009, went to Andrews Air Force Base, saw former President Bush get on to what was used to be Air Force One and then fly off to the ranch in Texas. And then at that point, you know, just like the rest of the political brethren, we kind of wander the wilderness then of the private sector for a while. And so I went with a former boss and set up a consulting practice. And at the time, the way that you already hit on this, but the focus was on the physical threats to the homeland. And the budgets aligned with that reality. And so in the part of the department I was in, which was known as the National Protection and Programs Directorate or its predecessor prep, but it was kind of an island of misfit toys. And it had debits.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Of my time on the job, well, probably more starting in August of 17, but in the Trump administration, was responding to hurricanes. I made half a dozen trips to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. So critical infrastructure can be in that the homeland writ large can be impacted by not just radical terrorists here, particularly international terrorists, but there are technological and man-made threats to consider.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Just walloping American businesses and government agencies on a daily basis. So I think the threat landscape has shifted, but it's expanded more than anything. And so we have a broader set of threats that we have to consider. And by the way, there are also natural hazards that we have to consider and Hurricane in natural disasters of tornadoes and earthquakes and things like that still remain a risk that particularly those in Florida and elsewhere have to think about on a daily basis. I mean, the first six months”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “And visiting one of those facilities and the amount of chlorine they had there. Again, it was a significant concern. Yet they had the significant protections in place, appropriate protections in place to ensure that they could not be a threat to the citizens of Chicago. So as I look back, I would think that there's a combination of things. Yes, we took the fight directly to Al-Qaeda, and Al-Qaeda was dismantled. And, you know, in its place, you have ISIS, which is much more of a decentralized threat. It's more of a kind of a nation-state rather than a cult like Al-Qaeda. You have a separate set. You have cyber threats, of course, that are the...”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Sitting where we are now, we have that kind of the ability to look backwards of hindsight 2020. I think there was a combination of factors. You touched on the geopolitical piece, you know, the threat at the time because Russia was not a big player on the stage throughout the Bush administration. China was still kind of refactoring itself and getting, so it was much more focused on the Middle East and some of the terror threats. There were, you know, again, for chemical.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Whatever it is in the country due to some of the chemical facilities and chlorine plants, that there was a concern that the bad guys could come in, blow one of those facilities up, and the toxic inhalation hazards could drift across the river into Manhattan, and you would have a significant casualty rate.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Blew up the federal courthouse there. Yep, mixed with fuel oil in the back of a van. But at the time, yeah, to your point, 2001 through the entirety of the Bush administration and into the Obama administration, there was a focus on Al-Qaeda and the threat that Al-Qaeda and radical terrorists posed to the homeland. And there were a number of, you know, just specific, again, to the critical infrastructure space, there were significant programs developed an entire regulatory program was developed around chemical facilities to ensure that they were not targeted, that chemicals were not stolen or sabotaged, that would pose great harm to the United States. And sitting where we are here in New York City, just down the road in New Jersey on the turnpike is considered one of the most dangerous half miles or whatever.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Well, there was a bit of a hangover from Oklahoma City and the Murray Boston. Yes, yes. Building bombing that was of concern, particularly for the control of things like ammonium nitrate. And that's what was used.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “The Department of Homeland Security's Deputy Chief of Staff at the time was a guy who had gotten to know and just through kind of nothing more than relentless networking in DC and in the Homeland Security space and going to various American Bar Association events, just meeting people. This was the second half of the second term of the Bush administration. Right. And that is when people are starting to look at on the way out rather than the way in. And so there was more opportunity.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “I was in the Bush administration, right? I was juggling offers. I had an opportunity to come in and be a part of the inaugural honors program at the Department of Homeland Security in 2007 or so that was modeled after a long-standing program at the Department of Justice. And so that was a career path. And then just due to some of the connections, relationships I had in DC, I also got an opportunity to come in to the Bush administration as a political appointee.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “I may have, but it took me about a month or two of my one L year to be like, you know what? I'm not going to be slog through seven years of associateship just to get to the partner track. I was much more interested in the policy side of things.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “Well, again, this goes a little bit back to family. My grandfather was an attorney in Alabama and always thought the world of him. And as I got up to DC, it was also very clear to me that particularly if you're applying for government jobs, having a couple extra letters after your name is a qualification in and of itself. And as I looked at the different options of masters of public policy, even in MBA, the way I viewed it was that a JD going to law school would open the most avenues for me. And whether I'm a practicing attorney or policy or something along those lines, as long as I want to stay in DC, I figured it would be the most helpful.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “There were 24 hours every couple weeks where I was on call, and we had clients all over the world. And then 9-11 happens. And by then, I'm working for a contractor to the Coast Guard. And the Coast Guard then gets realigned under the Department of Transportation, where it was pre-9-11, and then it gets shifted over to the Department of Homeland Security. And all of a sudden, I'm part of this massive Homeland Security contracting apparatus and in the critical infrastructure space. And then I decide to go to law school”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “That would manage the response to an oil spill or an accident. And so that was me. I was a qualified individual, which meant that I had to”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “You know, I think I had always had a public service bent. Why? For one, I think a lot of kids, the security side of things, the spies, the security side, the danger of it is interesting. And I was a voracious reader of the Clancy books and Robert Ludlam books and loved all that. High espionage and intrigue was something that I was interested in, but never really thought that it would be much of a career and didn't think of the FBI intelligence probably, but this is true or the intelligence community or the military. And then so I come up to DC and I'm working for a maritime consulting firm, which Exxon Valdez and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 required shipping companies that were operating in U.S. waters to have incident response plans and designated people that they would call if they had an incident.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Aquatic. Not that that's a bad thing. No, it just, you know, it wasn't for me. So two weeks later, I'm back up in DC or I'm back up in the States and then I end up in DC and that was pre-9-11. And that was kind of something.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “To be a scuba instructor, I also, that was one of the jobs I had in college, was a manager of a dive shop, the University Dive Center. I took to get a creditor to for a January term. certification course and then ended up enjoying it and working for the last two years or so of college at the dive center. And my kind of game plan, just to also think back like 99 and 2000, it wasn't the strongest job market, particularly in DC. There was a little dot-com bus thing going on. So my plan was go down to the Caribbean, Dive Master for a little bit. And I ended up down there on Andros Island, the largest island at the Bahamas, which, you know. Strangely enough, is where my wife and I honeymooned several years later, but we got down there and it was more about teaching fifth graders basics of snorkeling and what a reef is.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Universities kind of look at where they have some gaps in their academic offerings and they look at other states that are strong and they kind of bid back and forth. My dad said, you know, these are the four or five majors. You can pick to be in this program or we got to find another way to plug the gap financially. And I picked environmental science. It was interesting. I enjoyed the coursework. But of course it didn't lead me to the career I'm in now. No.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “You can Sergei Bubka, a Russian pole vaulter was a bit of an idol throughout high school. And I figured, hey, you do this well enough and there's an Olympics possibility down the road. But that took a lot more work than I think I was willing to put into it. Matriculated at UVA. And so after, I think it was about January of my first year, I left the team and my dad said, okay, well, now we got to plug this gap of the financial aid that you lost. And UVA as a participant, then I think it's still around, but it was known as the Common Market Program. So it's basically kind of an open market where college states”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Environmental sciences. Yep. So that is actually related to my track and field career or short-lived career. I had a small scholarship. And after a few months, it was clear to me that my future was not in pole vaulting or track and field. I don't know how does one...”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “I played football in high school, but I think my athletic achievements were probably stronger on the track and field side. And I was a pole vaulter. And still, as far as I understand, still hold the school record. And was the state champion my senior year? And then that kind of was my hook to get into UVA. University of Virginia. Yep. I'm right in.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Oh, so I had older brother, younger br And so everybody has since kind of migrated up the eastern seaboard and everybody's somewhere in Virginia right now.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “So I grew up in Atlanta, and my dad was in various. Roles in the financial services industry. And also a prior point was involved in the heavy equipment industry. So forklifts and construction equipment. And so a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And my mom took care of us much to her. How many of us?”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Not that I've discovered in our research both my, you know, eventually they moved into Alabama. My dad was from Birmingham. My mom grew up in northwest Alabama, so Mowbrook's territory, Florence, Alabama. She was born, though, in Phoenix City, which is right down southeast Alabama, right across the river from Columbus, Georgia.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Pre Civil War. In fact, it's almost a national treasure type claim back in family history that one of my ancestors actually invented the cotton gin first BD Li Whitney to the game, but didn't Whitney?”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “So I, oh gosh, this was back in middle school. I think I did the family research and the history. They actually came in through Pascagula, Mississippi. And there's a fort called Krebs Fort, also called the Old Spanish Fort. And that was back Hugo Ernestus Krebs came in from the, it was actually the Alsati region region, so a little French-German thing going on. But it's the 1800s, mid-1800s, I think.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “That's right. Yep. I am third generation UVA, my grandfather from Birmingham, Alabama, went back in the 20s or so, and then my dad, he went as well. And then my older brother went. I've got uncles and aunts and God willing. My children will.”

    2022-05-26 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 491 — Chris Krebs · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source