Former CIA acting director and deputy director Michael Morell has been named a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Michael V. Hayden Center for Intelligence, Policy, and International Security at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
Morrell will join the Hayden Center as the namesake’s founder, former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden, recovers from his recent stroke. Morell moderated the Hayden Center’s final event of 2018, Spywatchers: Governing Intelligence in an Imperfect World, at the National Press Club in early December, shortly after Hayden suffered his stroke. Morell will feature prominently in Hayden Center activities for the remainder of this academic year. In addition, he will provide guest lectures in classes across the Schar School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
“I’m grateful to Michael for joining the Hayden Center, pinch-hitting for me while I focus on my recovery,” Hayden commented. “Michael will provide the Hayden Center unparalleled insights into the craft of intelligence and how national security policy makers depend on it as they make the difficult decisions that keep us safe,” Larry Pfeiffer, director of the Hayden Center, noted. He continued, “Michael’s participation underscores the commitment of the Schar School and George Mason University to providing the best experience for its students, exposing them to real-world experiences of our nation’s leaders and the practical knowledge they will need to lead in the national security arena.”
Morell’s 33-year career in national intelligence included three years as CIA deputy director in the Obama administration, during which he twice served as acting director. His 2015 book, The Great War of Our Time: The CIA’s Fight Against Terrorism—from al Qa’ida to ISIS was a New York Times bestseller. He is also an on-air contributor in intelligence and national security to CBS News and host of the CBS News podcast, Intelligence Matters.
Morrell also has served as a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School, a resident fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, and a senior fellow at the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point, and has been a guest lecturer at several other universities. He is now senior counselor at strategic advisory firm Beacon Global Strategies and serves on the board of directors of Goodyear Tire & Rubber.