John Brennan Bio
John Owen Brennan (born 22 September 1955) is an American former intelligence officer and government official who served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from March 2013 to January 2017. He was chief counterterrorism advisor to President Barack Obama as Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, advising the President during the 2008 campaign and transition. Brennan spent 25 years at the Central Intelligence Agency in roles that included Near East and South Asia analyst, station chief in Saudi Arabia, and director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
After leaving government in 2005, he worked in the private intelligence sector before returning to the White House in 2009. Since leaving the Central Intelligence Agency he has worked as a national security analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.
Early Life and Background
John Owen Brennan was born and raised in North Bergen, New Jersey, the son of Owen V. and Dorothy (Dunn) Brennan. His Irish father, a blacksmith, emigrated from County Roscommon, Ireland, to New Jersey in 1948 and later became a steamfitter, working in Hoboken at Maxwell House. His mother was born in Jersey City, raised in Hoboken, and was a graduate of Sacred Heart Academy who worked for the Moore-McCormick shipping company in addition to community volunteer work. Brennan has a sister and a brother, and attended Immaculate Heart of Mary Elementary School before graduating from Saint Joseph of the Palisades High School in West New York, New Jersey.
Brennan attended Fordham University and earned a B.A. in political science in 1977, with a junior year abroad learning Arabic and taking courses at the American University in Cairo. He speaks Arabic fluently. While a college student he voted for the Communist Party USA candidate, Gus Hall, in the 1976 presidential election, later describing the vote as a way of signaling his unhappiness with the system during the Watergate era. After Fordham, Brennan attended the University of Texas at Austin, receiving a Master of Arts in government with a concentration in Middle East studies in 1980.
Path to Intelligence Service
While riding a bus to class, Brennan saw a Central Intelligence Agency recruiting ad in The New York Times and decided that a Central Intelligence Agency career would match his wanderlust and his desire for public service. He applied to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1980. During the application process he admitted during a lie-detector test that he had voted for the Communist Party candidate four years earlier; to his surprise, he was still accepted, and he later said that he found it heartening that the Central Intelligence Agency valued freedom of speech.
John Brennan Career
Early Career (1980–2001)
Brennan began his Central Intelligence Agency career as an analyst and spent 25 years with the agency. He was a daily intelligence briefer for President Bill Clinton. In 1996, he was Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when the Khobar Towers bombing killed 19 U.S. servicemen. In 1999, he was appointed chief of staff to George Tenet, then-Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and in March 2001 he became deputy executive director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
From 2003 to 2004, Brennan was director of the newly created Terrorist Threat Integration Center, an office that sifted through and compiled information for President George W. Bush’s daily top secret intelligence briefings and employed the services of analysts from a dozen U.S. agencies and entities.
Private Sector and White House Return (2005–2012)
Brennan left government service in 2005, becoming Chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance and Chief Executive Officer of The Analysis Corporation. He continued to lead The Analysis Corporation after its acquisition by Global Strategies Group in 2007 and its growth as the Global Intelligence Solutions division of Global’s North American technology business GTEC, before returning to government service with the Obama administration as Homeland Security Advisor on January 20, 2009. Brennan withdrew his name from consideration for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency during Obama’s first term over concerns about his support for torture, after defending on television the transferring of terror suspects to countries where they might be tortured while serving under President George W. Bush.
Instead, Brennan was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, a position that did not require Senate confirmation and made him the president’s chief counterterrorism advisor. His responsibilities included overseeing plans to protect the country from terrorism and respond to natural disasters, and he met with the president daily. In April 2012, Brennan was the first Obama administration official to publicly acknowledge Central Intelligence Agency drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, explaining the legality, morality, and effectiveness of the program.
Central Intelligence Agency Director (2013–2017)
On January 7, 2013, President Obama nominated Brennan to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Senate Intelligence Committee approved his nomination 12–3 on March 5, 2013, to succeed David Petraeus. Following a 13-hour talking filibuster by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Brennan was confirmed by a vote of 63–34 and was sworn into office on March 8, 2013. Two months later he replaced the head of the National Clandestine Service, and in June 2013 he installed Avril Haines as Deputy Director of the Agency.
During his tenure Brennan created ten new mission centers to focus the Central Intelligence Agency on cyber threats and established the Directorate for Digital Innovation to develop cyber-espionage tools. In June 2016 testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee, he warned of the threat posed by ISIL, citing its large cadre of Western fighters and lone-wolf capability. On January 20, 2017, Brennan’s appointment ended, and he was replaced by President Trump’s nominee Mike Pompeo on January 23, 2017.
Analyst and Public Commentary (2017–Present)
Brennan serves as a senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, with his inaugural appearance on Meet the Press with Chuck Todd on Sunday, February 4, 2018. In September 2017 he was named a Distinguished Non-Resident Scholar at The University of Texas at Austin, where he also acts as a senior advisor to the University’s Intelligence Studies Project, and he serves as a consultant on world events for Kissinger Associates.
John Brennan Personal Life
Family Background
Brennan is married to Kathy Pokluda Brennan, and together they have three children. Raised Catholic, he has described himself as agnostic.
Brennan’s Irish father, Owen V. Brennan, emigrated from County Roscommon, Ireland, to New Jersey in 1948 and worked as a steamfitter in Hoboken. His mother, Dorothy (Dunn) Brennan, was born in Jersey City, raised in Hoboken, and worked for the Moore-McCormick shipping company while remaining an active community volunteer.