John E. McLaughlin, Former Acting CIA Director, Named Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow

John E. McLaughlin, long-time official with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who rose to become acting director, has been named a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Strobe Talbott, president of the public policy research organization, and James B. Steinberg, vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies, announced today.

“John will be a tremendous addition to our program, particularly in the area of national security,” Steinberg said. “We are very excited to have him join us and look forward to benefiting from both his extraordinary experience and his considerable expertise.”

McLaughlin spent nearly 30 years at the CIA. Early in his career, he focused on European, Russian, and Eurasian issues in the Directorate of Intelligence. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he served as director of the Office of European Analysis and director of the Office of Slavic and Eurasian Analysis.

McLaughlin rose to the positions of vice chairman for estimates, acting chairman of the National Intelligence Council, deputy director for intelligence, and deputy director of the agency, before becoming acting director in 2004.

As deputy director for intelligence, he created the Senior Analytic Service and the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, an institution for teaching the history, mission, and essential skills of analysis to new CIA employees.

McLaughlin received his bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg University and his master’s degree from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, where he currently holds the position of senior fellow in the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies.

McLaughlin served as a U.S. army officer in the 1960s, including a tour in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969.