The Hon. Michael Leiter at Yale Law School Nov. 11; Will Discuss Al-Qa’ida: The Evolving Threat and Our Evolving Response

The Honorable Michael Leiter, Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), will speak at Yale Law School on Thursday, November 11. His talk is titled “Reflections on the Fight Against Al-Qa’ida: The Evolving Threat and Our Evolving Response” and is sponsored by the Yale Law Foreign Policy Workshop. It will be held from 4:10 to 5:30 p.m. in Room 129. Professor Paul Gewirtz ’70 will moderate.

As Director of the NCTC, Leiter oversees the primary organization in the United States government responsible for analysis and integration of all terrorism intelligence. The NCTC also conducts strategic operational planning for counterterrorism activities, integrating all elements of American national power. In the first role, Leiter reports to the Director of National Intelligence. In the second, he reports to President Obama.

Leiter’s previous assignments include serving as the NCTC’s Principal Deputy Director; Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Director of the President’s Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. He also served as Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Immediately prior to his Justice Department service, Leiter served as a law clerk to Associate Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer. He received his B.A. from Columbia and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was President of the Harvard Law Review.

Leiter’s visit is organized by the Yale Law Foreign Policy Workshop, a new entity that builds on a long tradition of foreign affairs leadership at Yale Law School. Founded by a group of Yale Law School students with backgrounds in international affairs, the Workshop seeks to connect today’s leaders with emerging talent through substantive work on current issues in American national security and foreign policy. This semester, the Workshop has welcomed to the Law School former Deputy National Security Adviser Meghan O’Sullivan, retired General Stanley McChrystal, and Time Magazine journalist Joe Klein, among others.