Christine Abizaid
Director of the National Counterterrorism Center
Assumed office
June 29, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byChristopher C. Miller
Personal details
Born
Christine Sandra Abizaid
RelationsJohn Abizaid (father)
EducationUniversity of California, San Diego (BA)
Stanford University (MA)

Christine Sandra Abizaid (born February 7, 1979)[1] is an American intelligence officer who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Biden administration.

Education

Abizaid earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and a Master of Arts in international policy studies from Stanford University.

A soccer player from an early age, Abizaid played forward for the NCAA Division II UC San Diego Tritons women's soccer team.[2] Her 36 career assists are the second most for the team all-time.[3][4] During her time with the team, the Tritons were California Collegiate Athletic Association and NCAA champions, and in her senior year she was saluted as "best of the best" by the UCSD Guardian newspaper.[3][5]

Career

Abizaid has worked as a counterterrorism intelligence official in the Defense Intelligence Agency and on the United States National Security Council. During the Obama administration, she served as a senior policy advisor and assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.[6] In 2014, she became the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.

In 2016, Ash Carter put Abizaid in charge of the Defense Innovation Unit in Austin, Texas.[7] Moving to the private sector, she joined Dell in 2017 as director for supply chain sustainability.[8][9]

Touring the National Counterterrorism Center's Watch Floor with President Joe Biden at the ODNI Headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia in 2021. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

The 2019 Form 990 for the Middle East Policy Council lists Abizaid as a Director.[10] As of December 2022 she remains listed as a Director on the organization's website.[11]

In 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Abizaid to serve as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center.[12] The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held open hearings on the nomination on June 9, 2021.[13] The full Senate confirmed her nomination by voice vote on June 24, 2021.[14]

In 2022, Abizaid participated in a July 1, 2022 Situation Room meeting with President Biden to prepare for a drone strike targeting al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The approved operation took place July 31, 2022. President Biden made a public address confirming the operation had killed Zawahiri on August 1, 2022.[15][16][17]

In subsequent testimony to Congress, Abizaid asserted that as a result of Zawahiri's death, the threat of al-Qaeda "is less acute than at any other time since 9/11," and "the most likely threat in the United States is from lone actors, whether inspired by violent extremist narratives, racially or ethnically motivated drivers to violence, or other politically motivated violence."[18] Writers for Lawfare were led to state that following the operation, it was "difficult to believe that [al-Qaeda] can exert the same threat given its leadership depletion".[19]

In 2023, delivering a lecture before the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Abizaid noted that al-Qaeda has yet to publicly announce a successor following Zawahiri's death. Her comments briefly mentioned Saif al-Adel and Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi as possible candidates.[20][21]

Personal life

Abizaid, a Lebanese American, is the daughter of John Abizaid, a retired United States Army general who served as Commander of the U.S. Central Command during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and diplomat, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President Donald Trump.[22]

Abizaid disclosed on her 2021 questionnaire to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that she is married to a woman.[23] She was also accompanied to her Senate confirmation hearing by her wife, whom she acknowledged in her remarks. The New York Times noted that she was the first woman and first openly gay person to be confirmed as head of the Center.[24]

In May 2022, Abizaid spoke with Michael Morell for the CBS News podcast Intelligence Matters, affirming her sexual orientation and that she recognizes "that it's important and it's important to be seen in the position that I'm in, that people will look at what I'm doing and will take a representation of that and latch on to it - good, bad or indifferent."[25] The following month, she spoke to an audience at a Defense Intelligence Agency Pride Month event, speaking about having once been closeted at the agency. She commented that, "I could have been more brave and placed more trust in people," and that "frankly, it's just easier," being open.[26]

Media Appearances

  • Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Interview: "Coffee and Conversation with NCTC Director Christine Abizaid". Intelligence and National Security Alliance. 2021-12-02. YouTube.
  • Interview with Michael Morrell (2022-05-11). "Counterterrorism Chief Christy Abizaid on Top Terror Threats to the U.S." Intelligence Matters (Podcast). CBS News Radio.
  • Roundtable discussion with Rep. Adam Smith, Sen. Dan Sullivan and former NATO Ambassador Douglas Lute: National Security Strategy in an Era of the Russia/China Axis, McCain Institute, 2022-05-23
  • In Conversation with Lt. General (ret.) Robert Noonan: Plenary, 2022 Intelligence and National Security Summit (Video). Intelligence & National Security Alliance. 2022-09-28.
  • Keynote Speech at the 2022 Eradicate Hate Global Summit , 2022-09-21, retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • Interview: "Protecting the US from terrorist attacks". Government Matters. 2022-12-04. WJLA 24/7 News. Archived from the original on 2022-12-07. Retrieved 2022-12-07.

Nomination Materials from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Congressional Testimony

References

  1. ↑ "WorldCat Identities". WorldCat. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022.
  2. ↑ "2000 UC San Diego Women's Soccer Roster". UC San Diego Tritons. 2000. Archived from the original on October 17, 2000. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "She's Simply the Best". UCSD Guardian. 2001-01-11. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  4. ↑ "Women's Soccer Record Book". UC San Diego. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  5. ↑ "Goodbye to the Tritons' Best of the Best". UCSD Guardian. 2001-05-07. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  6. ↑ "DNI Haines Statement on the President's Intent to Nominate Christine Abizaid as NCTC Director". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  7. ↑ "SECDEF Announces Another Link to Tech Innovators". CHIPS. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  8. ↑ "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate 11 Key Administration Leaders on National Security and Law Enforcement". The White House. 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  9. ↑ "Christine S. Abizaid". www.defense.gov. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  10. ↑ "MIDDLE EAST POLICY COUNCIL FOUNDATION - Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2019 - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  11. ↑ "Board of Directors | Middle East Policy Council". mepc.org. Archived from the original on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  12. ↑ "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate 11 Key Administration Leaders on National Security and Law Enforcement". The White House. 2021-04-12. Archived from the original on 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  13. ↑ "Open Hearing: Nomination of Christine Abizaid to be Director of National Counterterrorism Center of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Nomination of Robin Ashton to be Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)". Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Archived from the original on 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  14. ↑ "PN368 - Nomination of Christine Abizaid for Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  15. ↑ Baker, Peter; Cooper, Helene; Barnes, Julian E.; Schmitt, Eric (2022-08-01). "U.S. Drone Strike Kills Ayman al-Zawahri, Top Qaeda Leader". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  16. ↑ "Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on a U.S. Counterterrorism Operation". The White House. 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  17. ↑ Bennett, Brian; Hennigan, W. J. (2022-08-01). "Biden Hails al-Zawahiri Killing as Sign of American Resolve". Time. Archived from the original on 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  18. ↑ Testimony before the Senate hearing, Threats to the Homeland: Evaluating the Landscape 20 Years After 9/11 (PDF), U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 2021-09-21
  19. ↑ Taneja, Kabir; Pantucci, Raffaello (2022-12-04). "Did al-Qaeda Die With Ayman al-Zawahiri?". Lawfare. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  20. ↑ Singh, Kanishka; Landay, Jonathan (2023-01-10). "Al Qaeda succession after al-Zawahiri's death still unclear -U.S. official". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  21. ↑ Christine, Abizaid (2023-01-10). "A Survey of the 2023 Terrorism Threat Landscape". The Washington Institute. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  22. ↑ Barnes, Julian E. (2021-04-12). "Biden chooses a former Pentagon official to run the National Counterterrorism Center". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  23. ↑ Abizaid, Christine (2021-05-04). "Response to Questionnaire for Completion by Presidential Nominees" (PDF). intelligence.senate.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  24. ↑ Barnes, Julian E. (2021-06-09). "A Senate committee questioned Christine Abizaid, Biden's nominee for a top counterterrorism post". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  25. ↑ "Counterterrorism Chief Christy Abizaid on top terror threats - "Intelligence Matters"". www.cbsnews.com. 11 May 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  26. ↑ "NCTC Director Christy Abizaid talks about bringing authentic self to workplace". www.odni.gov. Archived from the original on 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2022-06-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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