Think Tanks Abound With Former Spies

Please note: This list is added to periodically but does not necessarily reflect the latest information and is not meant to be a comprehensive list.  Moreover, some of the below-mentioned scholars may no longer be affiliated with think tank land.

Last updated: May 22, 2025

Think tanks are filled with former Intelligence Community (IC) officials.  Following are some examples from the past decade:

• Christopher Johnson, Senior Advisor and Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is a former CIA senior China analyst.
• David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA, was named Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).  He was also named a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
  
• Scott Modell, Senior Associate (Non-Resident), Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS, was a senior officer in the National Clandestine Service of the CIA.
• Guy Caruso, Senior Advisor in the Energy and National Security Program at CSIS, worked at the CIA as an international energy economist in the office of Economic Research.
• Sameer Bhalotra, Senior Associate (Non-Resident), Technology and Public Policy Program at CSIS, worked at the CIA.
• Clark Murdock, Senior Advisor and Director, Project on Nuclear Issues at CSIS, served in multiple roles at the CIA.
• David Addington, Senior Vice President and Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Heritage Foundation, was a senior official at the CIA.
• Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, worked as an analyst for the CIA.
• Bruce Klinger, Senior Research Fellow, Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, worked at the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
• Douglas Paal, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), was a senior analyst at the CIA.
• Bruce Riedel, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, had a 30-year career at the CIA.
• Kenneth Pollack, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, was an Iran-Iraq military analyst for the CIA.
• Marie Harf, a current Media Spokesperson for the CIA, was in the Next Generation National Security Leaders class of 2010-2011 at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).
• Melvin Goodman, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), is a former CIA analyst. 
• Arturo Munoz, Senior Political Analyst at Rand Corporation, worked at the CIA for 29 years. 
• William Young, Senior Policy Analyst at Rand Corporation, worked for ODNI and the CIA. 
• Benjamin Lambeth, Senior Research Associate at the Rand Corporation, worked at the CIA. 
• Fiona Hill, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe, and Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings, served as a National Intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at The National Intelligence Council (2006-2009). 
• Philip Mudd, Senior Research Fellow at New American Foundation (NAF), is a former high-ranking CIA counterterrorism official.
• Aki Peritz, Senior Policy Advisor for National Security at Third Way, is a former CIA counterterrorism official. 
• Richard Bush, Director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at Brookings,was a National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council.
• Paul Pillar, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at Brookings, was an intelligence officer with the CIA and National Intelligence Council. 
• John McLaughlin, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence at Brookings, was the former Acting Director of the CIA. 
• Joseph Nye, a Trustee at CSIS, was the former Chairman of the National Intelligence Council. 
• Michael Shurkin, a political scientist at the RAND Corp., was a former CIA analyst. 
• Eugene Rumer, a Senior Associate and Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at CEIP, served as a national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council.
• Matthew Burrows, Director of the Strategic Foresight Initiative at Atlantic Council, used to work for the CIA. 
• Susan Hennessey, a Brookings fellow, is a former NSA lawyer. 
• David Shedd, a Visiting Distinguished Fellow at Heritage is former acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). 
• James Clapper, a Distinguished Senior Fellow for Intelligence and National Security and CNAS, was the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). 
• Sue Mi Terry, a Senior Fellow for the Korea Chair at CSIS, was a former CIA analyst.
• Jung Pak, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, is a former Korea analyst at the CIA. 
• Naveed Jamali, a Senior Fellow at Foreign Policy Research Institute, was a double agent for the FBI and is currently a reserve intelligence officer in the US Navy.
• Stanley Sloan, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, formerly worked at the CIA.
• Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a Senior Fellow at CNAS, previously worked at the NIC and CIA.
• Paul Heer, a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for the National Interest, was a US National Intelligence Officer for East Asia.
• Markus Garlauskas, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council, was a National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for North Korea on the National Intelligence Council (NIC).
• Martijn Rasser, who was formerly with the CIA, is a Senior Fellow at CNAS.
• Soo Kim, a policy analyst at RAND, was formerly an analyst with the CIA.
• David Gordon, a former senior State Department and CIA official, oversees the project on China's Belt and Road Initiative at IISS.
• Judd Devermont, a former senior CIA official and national intelligence officer in Africa, is director of the Africa program at CSIS.
• Anna Puglisi, a former intelligence official focusing on China, is now at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET).
• Gerard DiPippo, a former CIA official, is a senior fellow in the Economics Program at CSIS.
• Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Middle Eastern targets officer in the CIA, is a senior fellow at FDD.
• Douglas London, a 34-year veteran of the CIA's Clandestine Service, is a Non-Resident Scholar at the Middle East Institute (MEI).
• Glenn Gerstell, general counsel of the NSA from 2015 to 2020, is a senior adviser at CSIS.
• Jonathan Panikoff, former deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East at the National Intelligence Council, is the next director of Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.
• George Beebe, former chief of CIA Russia analysis, is joining the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft as director of grand strategy.
• Christopher Johnstone, a former CIA and NSC official, is the new Japan Chair at CSIS.
• Michael Morell, former acting director of the CIA, is on the advisory council of the German Marshall Fund.
• Derek Grossman, who spent over a decade in the Intelligence Community, including at the DIA, CIA, and NSC, is a Senior Defense Analyst at the RAND Corporation.
• J.D. Williams, who has held senior positions in the Intelligence Community, including the DIA and NSA, is a Senior International and Defense Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation.
• Anthony Vassalo, who was in the Intelligence Community, including the NIC, is a Senior International/Defense Policy Researcher at RAND.
• Cortney Weinbaum, who worked in the IC, is a Senior Management Scientist at RAND.
• Richard Girven, who was in the DIA, is a Senior International/Defense Researcher at RAND.
• Heather Williams, who spent 12 years with the IC, is a Senior Policy Researcher at RAND.
• David Luckey, who worked at ODNI, is a Senior International/Defense Researcher at RAND.
• Fred Fleitz, a former CIA and DIA official, is Vice Chair of the American First Policy Institute's (AFPI) Center for American Security.
• Ronald Marks, formerly at the CIA, is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council.
• Nicholas Eftimiades, formerly at CIA and DIA, is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
• Carol Rollie Flynn, formerly at the CIA, is the President of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
• John Ratcliffe, formerly the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), is a Visiting Fellow for National Security, Cybersecurity and Intelligence at the Heritage Foundation.
• Erin Murphy, formerly at the CIA, is a Senior Fellow for the Asia Program at CSIS.
• Jonathan Czin, formerly at the CIA and NSC, is the new Michael H. Armacost Chair in foreign policy studies at Brookings.
• Marc Polymeropoulos, formerly the CIA's chief of operations in Europe and Eurasia, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council.
• Martin Gurri, a former CIA analyst, is a Visiting Fellow at the Mercatus Center. 
• Jessica Brandt, the first director of the Foreign Malign Influence Center within ODNI, is now a senior fellow at CFR.

The CIA has its own internal think tank, The Global Futures Partnership (GFP), which has a website here.

Former spies also abound at non-US think tanks.  For example, Nigel Inkster, who worked in the British intelligence services for decades, is now a senior adviser at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

There are also plenty of former spies at colleges and universities.  For example, Georgetown University has more than two dozen ex-CIA officials among its teaching staff.