10/25/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/25/2021 11:09
October 25, 2021
WASHINGTON, October 25, 2021: The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is pleased to announce that Vincent Rigby, former national security and intelligence adviser to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, will join CSIS as a non-resident senior adviser.
"Vincent has played a key role in supporting the Canadian government's response to the evolving threats of the twenty-first-century national security landscape," said Dr. John J. Hamre, president and CEO of CSIS. "We are delighted to have him on board."
Rigby has spent three decades working on defense and security issues in the Canadian government. Prior to his appointment as national security and intelligence adviser to the prime minister of Canada in January 2020, he served as associate deputy minister of foreign affairs at Global Affairs Canada and as associate deputy minister of Public Safety Canada. He also served as assistant deputy minister of strategic policy at Global Affairs Canada from 2013 to 2017, where he provided integrated strategic policy advice related to the foreign policy, international assistance, and international trade streams of the department.
"Vincent brings decades of knowledge and experience, and we are thrilled that he will be joining CSIS," said CSIS senior vice president and head of the Americas Program Daniel F. Runde. "His background as a public servant in national security and foreign affairs will inform CSIS's strategic perspective as we continue to build strong global ties and increase regional collaboration across the Western Hemisphere."
Rigby began his career as a defense and foreign policy analyst at the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament from 1991 to 1994. He then joined the Department of National Defence, where he spent 14 years in various positions, including assistant deputy minister (policy), director of general policy planning, director of policy development, and director of arms and proliferation control policy. From 2008 to 2010, he was the executive director of the International Assessment Secretariat at the Privy Council Office (PCO). While at the PCO, he was also the Afghanistan intelligence lead official-a role in which he coordinated the Canadian intelligence community in support of Canada's Afghanistan mission. He went on to become vice president of the Strategic Policy and Performance Branch of the former Canadian International Development Agency.
Rigby holds a master's degree in diplomatic and military history and a bachelor's degree in history from Carleton University.