Senior army officer to become new cyber security chief

Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness will become Australia's next cyber security tsar after her predecessor was recalled to defence over a "workplace matter".

The army officer served in the Australian Defence Force for 30 years before taking on a role in the United States Defence Intelligence Agency as the deputy director of commonwealth integration.

She also played a role in Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting whole-of-government counter proliferation initiatives such as Australia's Strategic Health Intelligence capability.

Set to start her new role on Monday, Lt Gen McGuinness will lead and co-ordinate Australia's national cyber security policy, government preparedness and responses to events like data breaches and major hacking incidents.

She will be Australia's second National Cyber Security Coordinator and follows on from Air Marshal Darren Goldie.

The home affairs department revealed the air marshal would no longer act as the cyber security chief in November after he was summoned to defence to deal with a workplace matter relating to his time in the department.