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 top-secret document including intelligence from all IC agencies,handed each morning to the president of the United States.
John Robert Bolton is an American attorney,diplomat,Republican consultant,and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006,and as the 26th United States National Security Advisor from 2018 to 2019.
The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a US far-right,anti-Muslim,Washington,D.C.-based think tank. The founder and former president of the organization was Frank J. Gaffney Jr. The current president is Tommy Waller. CSP sometimes operates under its DBA name Secure Freedom.
Robert G. Joseph is a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and professor at Missouri State University. He was the United States Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation,with ambassadorial rank. Prior to this post,Joseph was the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security,a position he held until January 24,2007. Joseph is known for being instrumental in creating the Proliferation Security Initiative and as the architect of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. He was also the US chief negotiator to Libya in 2003 who convinced the Libyans to give up their WMD programs. He also recently authored a book describing his experience in negotiating with Libya entitled "Countering WMD."
Hon. Carl W. Ford,Jr.,is an American political scientist,consultant,defense administrator,and Asian specialist originally from Hot Springs,Arkansas. As Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research,he headed the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) in the State Department from 2001 until 2003. He reported directly to then Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Herbert Raymond McMaster is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 25th United States National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018. He is also known for his roles in the Gulf War,Operation Enduring Freedom,and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Michael Vincent Hayden is a retired United States Air Force four-star general and former Director of the National Security Agency,Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence,and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He also serves as a professor at the George Mason University - Schar School of Policy and Government. Hayden currently co-chairs the Bipartisan Policy Center's Electric Grid Cyber Security Initiative. In 2017,Hayden became a national security analyst for CNN.
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.
James Robert Clapper Jr. is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. He served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) from 1992 until 1995. He was the first director of defense intelligence within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and simultaneously the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. He served as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) from September 2001 until June 2006.
Roger W. Cressey is a cyber security and counter-terrorism expert and served in senior positions under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He is a former member of the United States National Security Council staff and the Founder and former President of the Good Harbor consulting group.
Michael Joseph Morell is an American former career intelligence analyst. He served as the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2010 to 2013 and twice as its acting director,first in 2011 and then from 2012 to 2013. He also serves as a professor at the George Mason University - Schar School of Policy and Government.
Bruce O. Riedel is an American expert on U.S. security,South Asia,and counter-terrorism. He is currently a senior fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution,and a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He also serves as a senior adviser at Albright Stonebridge Group.
Derek J. Harvey is a retired US Army Colonel who currently serves on the staff of Congressman Devin Nunes,ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Harvey is a former National Security Council (NSC) staffer in President Donald Trump's administration and was the first director of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM),having been selected by General David Petraeus in 2009 to lead the new organization. Harvey was the previous senior analytical specialist for Iraq to Petraeus,then Commander,Multi-National Forces-Iraq. He became a top aide to Republican congressman Devin Nunes on the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017.
Robert James Woolsey Jr. is an American political appointee who has served in various senior positions. He headed the Central Intelligence Agency as Director of Central Intelligence from February 5,1993,until January 10,1995. He held a variety of government positions in the 1970s and 1980s,including as United States Under Secretary of the Navy from 1977 to 1979,and was involved in treaty negotiations with the Soviet Union for five years in the 1980s. His career also included time as a professional lawyer,venture capitalist and investor in the private sector.
Stephen Brent Slick is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations officer and United States National Security Council official. He is the inaugural director of the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas at Austin,where he is also a Clinical Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and the Bobby R. Inman Chair in Intelligence Studies.
Ezra Cohen,also known as Ezra Cohen-Watnick,is an American intelligence official who served as the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence during the Trump Administration. He previously served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict,national security adviser to the United States attorney general and as a former senior director for intelligence programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC).
Michael Barry was the Senior Director for Intelligence Programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC) in 2017 and 2018. He succeeded Ezra Cohen-Watnick who left in August 2017. Barry's appointment was well received within the NSC due to having years of experience in government and respect for established protocol,and due to his predecessor Cohen-Watnick's repeated clashes with the CIA,fellow NSC staffers,and Cabinet officials. Barry has been a CIA official and served in the Air Force from 1982 and 1992,including as a special agent in its Air Force Office of Special Investigations and was deployed to Europe. According to his LinkedIn profile,he graduated from Northeastern University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. Barry was working in Afghanistan with Medecins du Monde in 1992.
Earl G. Matthews is an American government official and attorney who held senior positions within the Department of the Army and at the White House during the administration of President Donald Trump. Matthews was a member of Trump's Department of Defense transition team and was appointed as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense,James N. Mattis on January 20,2017. Matthews was subsequently appointed as the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Army on June 21,2019. He served as Acting General Counsel of the Army from June 21,2017,until James E. McPherson was sworn in as General Counsel on January 2,2018.
The Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence,Policy,and International Security is a think tank in Arlington,Virginia focused on the intelligence community including topics related to intelligence studies education,intelligence analysis techniques,and the operations of intelligence agencies,as well as public policy and international relations related to national security,international security,and foreign policy through shared experiences of senior intelligence service leaders,military officers,elected officials,journalists,academics,and other civilian scholars. It is housed within the Schar School of Policy and Government but also cooperates with the Antonin Scalia Law School’s National Security Institute in conducting research around legal issues pertaining to national security;both of which are affiliated with George Mason University.
