Philip Mudd

Central Intelligence Agency

Mudd joined the CIA in 1985 as an analyst specializing in South Asia and the Middle East. In 1992 he joined the CIA's Counterterrorism Center (CTC). From 1995 to 1998 he served on the National Intelligence Council as the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia. In 2001, he began a policy assignment at the White House, detailed from the CIA to serve as the Director for Gulf Affairs on the White House National Security Council. After the September 11 attacks and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, he joined Ambassador James Dobbins in an effort to constitute a new government in Afghanistan.^[9] Mudd returned to the CIA in January 2002 to become Deputy Director of the CTC's Office of Terrorism Analysis.^[9][8] There, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Director of the CTC in December 2003, and served there until August 2005.^[9][8][10] During a 2013 interview on The Colbert Report, Mudd stated in response to a question of whether he had renditioned anybody, "I signed papers to do it, to have people renditioned", also saying that he thought it was the right thing to do.^[11]

Federal Bureau of Investigation

On August 12, 2005, FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed Mudd to serve as the National Security Branch's Associate Executive Assistant Director, with the task to transform the FBI into a domestic intelligency agency.^[9][12][13] Some of Mudd's new concepts were criticized by FBI officials as "vague" and concerns about "ethnic targeting" were raised. Mudd encouraged agents to postpone the arrest of terrorism suspects and argued to instead surveil them in order to gain intelligence regarding connections to other operatives as well as information about groups' financial ties, a concept he initially struggled to implement.^[14] In April 2009, Mudd was nominated to the post of Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security by President Obama.^[10] He later withdrew himself from consideration after Senator Kit Bond had declared his intent to question Mudd regarding his involvement with the Bush administration's enhanced interrogation program. Mudd stated that he believed he would "become a distraction to the president" were his nomination to continue forward.^[15][16][17] From 2009 to 2010 he was a senior intelligence adviser to the FBI.^[18]

Life after government service

Mudd resigned from government service in March 2010 and later became a regular commentator on CNN. His commentary has also been published by various other networks and print publications. He has authored three books.^[7]

On August 20, 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump suggested he may revoke Mudd's security clearance, invoking Mudd's "mental condition" in a post on Twitter and referencing one of Mudd's appearances on CNN. On August 17, Mudd had engaged in a heated on-air discussion with fellow CNN contributor Paris Dennard concerning Trump's intent to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance. Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden expressed support for Mudd, calling him a "hero" and a "counter terrorism giant".^[19][20] As of March 2019, Mudd's security clearance had not been revoked.^[21]

In early 2023, Mudd retired from his position at CNN.^[22]