Measured Progress

Posted: September 13th, 2016

By Michael Sulick

Michael Sulick is the former director of CIA’s National Clandestine Service and is currently a consultant on counterintelligence and global risk assessment. Sulick also served as Chief of Counterintelligence and Chief of the Central Eurasia Division where he was responsible for intelligence collection operations and foreign liaison relationships in Russia, Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union. He is the author of Spying in America: Espionage From the Revolutionary War to the Dawn of the Cold War and American Spies: Espionage Against the United States from the Cold War to the Present.

In the aftermath of 9/11, the American intelligence community (IC) went through one of the most transformative periods in its history. From the creation of the Office of the Director of the National Intelligence (ODNI) to the creation of new agencies like the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. national security and intelligence architecture looks very different today than it did 15 years ago. The Cipher Brief sat down with former Director of the National Clandestine Service at the CIA, Michael Sulick, to discuss just how effective these reforms have been, and what remains to be done.

The Cipher Brief: Almost 15 years after 9/11, how has the intelligence landscape changed in your opinion, and what is the most striking difference to you?

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