The Promise and Peril of the Intelligence Community-Policy Relationship

Summary:

Amy McAuliffe will discuss the Intelligence Community's (IC) mission and features of a “proper” IC-policy relationship, using Sherman Kent's framework, as well as her own experience as a senior CIA executive. She’ll discuss in detail examples of when this relationship worked well and produced a well-informed US policy decision and when it did not. Examples will include Libya's decision to relinquish WMD in 2003, Iraq-WMD, the capture and death of Osama bin Ladin, and the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).

Bio:

Amy McAuliffe is a visiting distinguished professor of the practice in the Keough School of Global Affairs and a Notre Dame International Security Center Fellow at the University of Notre Dame.

A former senior CIA official, McAuliffe has decades of experience in pressing intelligence and foreign policy issues. She has been a leader in Intelligence Community programs to analyze and combat adversary weapons of mass destruction, track emerging technologies, and fight terrorism. In her last position in the government, McAuliffe served as assistant director of CIA for weapons and counterproliferation, where she led thousands of employees and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars. She is a recognized expert on adversary science, technology, and weapons issues, as well as the craft of strategic analysis and forecasting. As chair of the Intelligence Community's think tank, the National Intelligence Council (NIC), McAuliffe revitalized production of strategic forecasts of international developments relevant to US foreign policy. In this capacity, she led analysis on topics as diverse as Iran’s nuclear program, the status of ISIS worldwide, and China as a geostrategic competitor to the U,S.

Since retiring from federal service, McAuliffe has published on national security threats to the United States, with articles focusing on the risk of Saudi Arabia developing a uranium enrichment program; Iran’s role in assisting Russia’s development of attack drones; drivers for U.S. allies to pursue nuclear weapons; Israel’s long-term interwar strategy in the Middle East; and the implications of Chinese penetration of U.S. critical infrastructure.

McAuliffe's senior assignments at CIA included serving as the assistant director of CIA for weapons and counterproliferation, deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, and director of the Office of Middle East and North African Analysis. She established and then co-led the CIA unit that assesses the measures of effectiveness of agency programs. In these positions, she led thousands of employees and budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars. She also served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as Chair of the NIC and Director of the President’s Daily Brief.

McAuliffe has received a number of prestigious awards, including a Presidential Rank Award—the highest award given to a civil servant—and the Langer Award, the seminal CIA award for analysts and leaders in the analytic field. She is also a two-time recipient of the CIA Director’s Award. She was awarded the US Special Operations Command medal for leading partnerships between the CIA and the Department of Defense.

McAuliffe graduated from the University of Notre Dame cum laude with a bachelor of arts in government. She has a master of arts in international affairs from American University and a master of arts in military studies from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, where she was a distinguished graduate.