Raquel Garbers

Expert Overview

Raquel is the former Director General for Strategic Defence Policy at the Canadian Department of National Defence, where she served as the principal architect of Canada’s defence policy, led strategic work on the future of the Canada-US relations in the new world order, and represented Canada at high-level international meetings (NATO, Five Eyes, etc).

In her time at Defence, she also served as a visiting practitioner with the US Department of Defense (Hawaii), and co-led the Canada at Economic War program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. With almost three decades of experience in senior roles across the Canadian defence, security and intelligence community, she is one of Canada’s few geo-strategic experts specialized in gray zone threats to military operations and the defence industrial base, with a particular focus on hostile economic statecraft.

In addition to her work with MLI, Raquel sits on the Global Advisory Board for the European Values Center and serves as a non-resident senior fellow with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).