The world feels like a ticking time bomb. Jennie Carignan, Canada's top general, has helped defuse a few of those.

FOR MONTHS NOW, Canadians have had their eyes locked on the border, anxiously anticipating what fresh, destabilizing hell America’s mercurial president will visit upon us next.

- Jennie Carignan

Way up north, meanwhile, another turf war is brewing as Russia, China and, yes, the U.S. slowly encroach on Canada’s third (and largest) coast. As global warming melts our natural icy defences— opening up new shipping routes and access to critical minerals—we’ve been forced to find new ways to protect our Arctic interests. That’s Jennie Carignan’s territory.

Carignan is no stranger to danger. Before she was appointed the country’s first female chief of the defence staff last July, she helped defuse land mines in Bosnia’s farm fields, kept the peace in the Golan Heights and led NATO forces in Iraq during her trailblazing three-decade career in the Canadian Armed Forces. Now, Gen. Carignan—and the nearly 95,000 military members under her command—face threats on a few fronts: online (disinformation), on Earth (new tensions with our oldest ally) and in space (if you can process that). The good news? She’s on track to hit her recruitment quota for the year— possibly thanks to Trump’s provocations.

Well, you’re less than a year into this job and Canada’s already had a minor annexation scare. How has it been otherwise?

I’ve been networking with my colleagues in Ottawa, our allies, my American colleagues and our partners in the Indo-Pacific and in NATO. It’s been a lot of time on the road. But the worst thing during a crisis is to try to sort out difficult problems with people you don’t know.

You used the word “crisis” there. Before your predecessor, Wayne Eyre, left the post, he said that the period we're living in is more chaotic and dangerous than any since the end of the Cold War. You've been in the Forces for more than 30 yearsdo you agree?