Mark Lowenthal

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mark M. Lowenthal
Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis & Production
SuccessorMark Roth[1]

Mark M. Lowenthal (born September 5, 1948) is an author and Adjunct Professor at the

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD[2]
He has written five books and over 90 articles or studies on intelligence and national security. His book Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy has become a standard undergraduate and graduate text.

In 2005, Lowenthal retired from a prolific career working with the

U.S. House of Representatives.[3]

He is the former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production and former Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the

U.S. State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research
(INR), as both an office director and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

Lowenthal is a notable contestant on the American game show Jeopardy!, appearing five times, including winning the "Tournament of Champions" in 1988.[4] In 1992, he co-wrote Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions, which was marketed as an instruction manual for prospective contestants of the trivia game show.[5]

Personal background

Lowenthal is married to Cynthia Lowenthal. Together, they have two children, Sarah and Adam.[3] The family resides in Reston, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.

Professional background

United States intelligence

In 1995, Lowenthal served as the staff director of the

House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In this capacity, he directed the committee's study on the future of the Intelligence Community, "IC21: The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century". Lowenthal was the Senior Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
.

In 2002, Lowenthal began serving as the

ODNI
structure.

As the Assistant Director, Lowenthal was instrumental in having the Intelligence Community adopt the

Office of the Director of National Intelligence
to report on and to senior policymakers on the progress the Intelligence Community was making against its directed areas for exploration.

Iraq National Intelligence Estimate

As the ADCIAP, Lowenthal was one of the key coordinators and evaluators of the

Operation Iraqi Freedom. In a 2009 Op-Ed in The Washington Post
, Lowenthal vehemently defends the protection he and his office extended to the product from the forces of politicization:

The 2002 estimate claiming that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction had little influence on anyone's decision about going to war. Only six senators actually read the NIE, but 77 voted to authorize the use of force. As analytically flawed as that estimate might have been, the one intelligence "sin" the council did not commit was "politicization" -- that is, writing what the policymaker wants to hear. Even the Senate intelligence committee's investigation of the Iraq NIE agreed; it wasn't politicized to support invasion."[7]

Lowenthal contends that given the information available at the time, it would not have been possible to determine the absence of

weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.[8]

Intelligence community reforms

Lowenthal has been one of several voices in opposition to the initiatives to change the way the Intelligence Community produces analysis. He serves the intelligence community as the President and CEO of the Intelligence & Security Academy, LLC,[6] which is a national security education, training, and consulting organization.[9]

In 2007, Lowenthal attended the ODNI's Analytic Transformation conference held in Chicago. At that event, he took the microphone questioning the ultimate objective and endstate of analytic transformation. He called into question the ability of technological solutions like Intellipedia and A-Space to resolve some of the most pressing reforms in the community.[10]

Lowenthal was quoted as saying, "I think, unfortunately, a lot of this is pandering to a bunch of commissions that have no understanding of what we do for a living, or the nature of our work, and to a workforce. And I don't think that's a sufficient ground for a transformation. And so I'm left here wondering, what's the end state? For what reason?"[10]

In January 2009, Lowenthal was interviewed by Charlie Rose on the American television interview show Charlie Rose. He discussed several topics related to national security and intelligence. In that interview, Dr. Lowenthal expressed his opinion that the overall community was appropriately sized, but that the experience levels of the community were extraordinarily low. He went on to indicate that the staff of the ODNI was too large and should be evaluated for downsizing.[8]

Jeopardy! appearances

Lowenthal was a successful contestant on the American game show

Battle of the Decades, defeating Frank Spangenberg and Phoebe Juel.[11]

His total cash winnings were $159,901, plus $10,000 from the Battle of the Decades.[12] He returned for the quarterfinals of the Battle of the Decades, and was matched up against 2009 Grand Champion Dan Pawson and all-time money winner Brad Rutter. However, he finished in third and received $10,000.[citation needed]

In 1992, Lowenthal co-wrote Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions with Chuck Forrest, who is a fellow Jeopardy! champion. The book was marketed as an instruction manual for prospective contestants on "America's favorite question-and-answer game".[5]

Educational background

Published works

References

  1. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. 2009-07-06. Archived from the original
    on 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  2. ^ "Mark Lowenthal, Adjunct Faculty - Advanced Academic Programs - Johns Hopkins University". Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "Commending ADCI Mark Lowenthal on His Retirement". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2015-04-04.
  4. ^
    J! Archive
    . Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-446-39352-2
    .
  6. ^ a b "Faculty Bios – The Intelligence & Security Academy". The Intelligence Academy. 2011. Archived from the original on 14 December 2011. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  7. ^ a b Lowenthal, Mark M. (2009-03-15). "He Blames the Israel Lobby. But the Job Wasn't Worth It". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  8. ^ a b "Mark Lowenthal on Iraq N.I.E." Charlie Rose. 2009-01-09. Archived from the original on 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  9. ^ "SIPA: Faculty Mark M. Lowenthal". Columbia University. Archived from the original on 2012-03-20. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  10. ^ a b "The Liberator @". Shaneharris.com. 2007-09-21. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  11. J! Archive
    . Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  12. J! Archive
    . 26 November 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
Preceded by
Bob Verini
Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions
winner
1988 		Succeeded by
Tom Cubbage
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