The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Community (IC) and to direct and oversee the National Intelligence Program (NIP). All IC agencies report directly to the DNI. The DNI also serves, upon invitation, as an advisor to the president of the United States, the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council on all intelligence matters. The DNI, supported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), produces the President's Daily Brief (PDB), a classified document including intelligence from all IC agencies, handed each morning to the president of the United States.
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in Liberty Crossing, a modern complex near Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia. NCTC advises the United States on terrorism.
The United States Department of Justice National Security Division (NSD) handles national security functions of the department. Created by the 2005 USA PATRIOT Act reauthorization, the division consolidated all of the department's national security and intelligence functions into a single division. The division is headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security.
John Owen Brennan is a former American intelligence officer who served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from March 2013 to January 2017. He served as chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama, with the title Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Assistant to the President. Previously, he advised Obama on foreign policy and intelligence issues during the 2008 election campaign and presidential transition.
Tracy A. Henke, a native of Moscow Mills, Missouri, was a government official holding held high-level positions in the United States Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. She currently serves as the legislative director for United States Senator Roy Blunt from the State of Missouri.
Richard A. Falkenrath Jr. served as deputy commissioner of counter-terrorism of the New York City Police Department from 2006 to 2010. He was the third person to hold this position. His predecessors were Frank Libutti and Michael A. Sheehan.
Matthew Glen Olsen is an American attorney who has served as the Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division since 2021. He is the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
Kenneth Leonard Wainstein is an American lawyer. He served as the first Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and later as the Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush. In 2022 under the Biden administration, he was appointed Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis.
Lisa Oudens Monaco is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor and national security official who has served as the 39th and current United States Deputy Attorney General since April 21, 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Rajesh "Raj" De is an American lawyer and former U.S. government official who later became the managing partner for the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Mayer Brown. During the presidency of Barack Obama, he served in three significant government roles—as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy, as White House Staff Secretary, and finally as general counsel of the U.S. National Security Agency.
Elizabeth Neumann is an American former homeland security official. In the Trump administration she served from February 2017 to April 2020 as a senior advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to DHS Secretary John Kelly and Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, and as DHS Assistant Secretary for Threat Prevention and Security Policy to DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, and Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf. She served on the Homeland Security Council staff in the George W. Bush administration starting in 2003.
Thomas P. Bossert is an American lawyer and former Homeland Security Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump. He is an ABC News Homeland Security analyst.
The Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, commonly referred to as the Homeland Security Advisor and formerly the Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, is a senior aide in the National Security Council, based in the West Wing of the White House, who serves as principal advisor to the President of the United States on homeland security and counterterrorism issues.
Rachel Lee Brand is an American lawyer, academic, and former government official. She served as the United States Associate Attorney General from May 22, 2017, until February 20, 2018, when she resigned to take a job as head of global corporate governance at Walmart. Brand was the first woman to serve as Associate Attorney General. She also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the George W. Bush administration and was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Prior to becoming Associate Attorney General, Brand was an associate professor at Antonin Scalia Law School.
Sigal Pearl Mandelker is an American lawyer and former government official who served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence from 2017 to 2019. In October 2019, she stepped down from the position to pursue opportunities in the private sector. Following her position with the US Treasury Department, Sigal Mandelker joined Silicon Valley investment firm Ribbit Capital as a General Partner.
Kathryn Lynn Wheelbarger is an American attorney and government official, who served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs from 2018 to 2020.
Samantha Erin Vinograd is an American government official and foreign policy commentator who has served as the assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in the Department of Homeland Security since 2022.
John Philip Mudd is an American media commentator and former counterterrorism official in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Olivia Troye is an American national security official who worked on national security and homeland security issues at the National Counterterrorism Center, the United States Department of Energy Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis. She went on to work in the Office of the Vice President of the United States as the Homeland Security and Counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence and also served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force as Pence's lead staffer on the Task Force. She resigned from the White House in August 2020.
