John Brennan

Principal

Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency 

John O. Brennan served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from March 2013 until January 2017.  As Director, he was responsible for intelligence collection, analysis, covert action, counterintelligence, and liaison relationships with foreign intelligence services.  From January 2009 to March 2013, John was Deputy National Security Advisor and Assistant to President Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, shaping and coordinating Obama administration policies on counterterrorism, homeland security, pandemics, cyberattacks, and natural disasters.

John began his government service at the CIA, where he worked from 1980 to 2005.  He served as the CIA’s daily intelligence briefer to President Clinton, Chief of Staff to then Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, and Deputy Executive Director.  In 2003, he led a multi-agency effort to establish the National Counterterrorism Center and served as the Center’s first Director. After retiring from the CIA in 2005, he worked in the private sector for three years.

John graduated from Fordham University in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, conducting field research in Indonesia in 1974 and studying at the American University in Cairo in 1975-1976. He earned a master’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980.

John currently is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School, a Distinguished Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a senior intelligence and national security analyst for NBC and MSNBC, a member of the Board of Directors of ImmunityBio Inc, and an advisor to a variety of private sector companies. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller, “Undaunted: My Fight Against America’s Enemies at Home and Abroad,” a memoir of his career in public service.