Michael E. Leiter ’00 is currently serving as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He was confirmed by the Senate in June 2008, after serving as acting director in the Bush administration since 2007. In January, President Obama ’91 announced that Leiter would remain in his post as part of the new administration’s intelligence team.
The NCTC serves as the primary organization in the U.S. government for analysis and integration of all terrorism intelligence and conducts strategic operational planning for counterterrorism activities integrating all elements of U.S. national power. Leiter reports to both the President and the director of National Intelligence.
Before joining the NCTC, Leiter served as deputy chief of staff for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, coordinating all internal and external operations, including relationships with the White House, CIA, Congress and the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security. He was the deputy general counsel and assistant director of the President’s Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, prior to his service with the ODNI. From 2002 to 2005, Leiter worked at the Department of Justice as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Leiter clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer ’64 and Chief Judge Michael Boudin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
He has a B.A. from Columbia and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review.