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: Oct. 7, 2024

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.
  

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.