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Former CIA Official John E. McLaughlin Joins SAIS as Visiting Scholar

The Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies of the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) has appointed John E. McLaughlin as a senior fellow.

McLaughlin, a 1966 graduate of SAIS, most recently served as acting director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 07/to 09/2004 and as the agency's deputy director since 10/2000. Prior to that, he was deputy director for Intelligence, vice chairman for Estimates and acting chairman of the National Intelligence Council.

As a Merrill Center senior fellow, he will present seminars on intelligence and policy, participate in strategic studies courses involving intelligence analysis and regional issues, and, in general, join in Merrill Center activities. He also will counsel students who wish to learn more about the intelligence career field.

"The Merrill Center is delighted to welcome John McLaughlin as our first senior fellow. It's a particular pleasure to bring back to SAIS one of our own graduates, who has had a distinguished career of public service in the intelligence community of the United States," said Eliot Cohen, director of the Merrill Center and Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies.

McLaughlin's distinguished career at the CIA spanned more than 30 years, starting in 1972 with a focus on European, Russian and Eurasian issues in the Directorate of Intelligence. He later became director of European Analysis and director of Slavic and Eurasian Analysis. While deputy director for Intelligence from 1997 to 2000, he created the Senior Analytic Service, a CIA career track that enables analysts to rise to very senior rank without branching out into management. He also founded the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, an institution dedicated to teaching the history, mission and essential skills of the analytic profession to new CIA employees.

In addition to earning his master's degree in international relations from SAIS, he received a bachelor's degree from Wittenberg University and completed graduate work in comparative politics at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from SAIS, he served as a U.S. Army officer, completing a tour in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969.

The Merrill Center operates both as an academic program at SAIS and as an outreach program. The academic program in strategic studies is available to SAIS students and deals with the relationship between politics and military power. The center's outreach activities aim to improve the quality of teaching in strategic studies and promote dialogue on major issues of the national security agenda.

SAIS is one of the country's leading graduate schools devoted to the study of international relations. Located along Embassy Row in Washington's Dupont Circle area, the school enrolls more than 450 full-time graduate students and mid-career professionals and has trained more than 11,000 alumni in all aspects of international affairs.

Members of the media who plan to cover the event should respond toMembers of the media who plan to cover the event should respond to Felisa Neuringer Klubes at the SAIS Public Affairs Office at 202.663.5626 or [email protected].

Date: 
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Press Release Type: 
Contact Person: 
Felisa Neuringer Klubes
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Phone: 
(202) 663.5626