How I Build My Own Brief

By Rob Lively

Rob Lively retired after 28 years of military service, as the Command Sergeants Major of a Special Missions Unit within The United States Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. As an experienced and proven leader, Rob has operated and led teams and organizations in the most demanding, diverse, and challenging environments. Rob was able to lead and influence from the tactical to the strategic and do so across the boundaries that often exist between services, militaries, agencies, and countries. Rob culminated his Army service at the highest enlisted rank and in the most competitive noncommissioned officer position, retiring as Command Sergeants Major (senior enlisted leader) for the Army’s most elite unit. Rob upheld an accomplished and decorated military career where he performed and led in the most dangerous and active war zones. As a geopolitical subject matter expert, he regularly briefed and provided recommendations to the U.S. Government’s most senior military and political leadership while also cultivating critical relationships with foreign, civilian, and military leaders in support of U.S. national security objectives. Rob currently translates his many life and leadership lessons from the US Military in his new career as the President of TRX Elite where he leads a diverse team that delivers human performance strategies and solutions in support of government, military and the first responder population as well as the veterans from each of those communities. Rob is married to his wife Kathy of 31 years and they have two daughters, Kayla and Carly who are successful professionals in New York and Denver respectfully.

TRUSTED SOURCE – In this day of disinformation and facts blending routinely with political opinion and being passed off as objective news, The Cipher Brief is launching a new occasional series called, ‘Trusted Source’ to share tips and insights on where our exclusive group of experts and readers get their news.

This week, we spoke with  Rob Lively, Command Sergeants Major (Ret.) U.S. Army Special Operations and asked him to share his experience moving from classified briefings, to finding the best open source information available to keep him on top of global and domestic issues.

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

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