John C. Gannon, Chairman
John Gannon has a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors. He served as CIA’s Director of European Analysis, as Deputy Director for Intelligence, and as Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council until 2001. After his retirement in 2001, he served in the White House as the head of the intelligence team standing up the Department of Homeland Security and later on the Hill as the staff director of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.
In 2005 he joined the UK-owned BAE Systems where he served until his retirement in 2012 as President of the $1.7-billion Intelligence and Security Sector, which supported intelligence, defense, and homeland-security missions. From 2014 through 2018 he has held numerous leadership and advisory positions to implement congressionally directed actions, and since 2004 he has been an adjunct professor in the graduate Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.
Gannon has received awards including the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal, Director’s Medal, and Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, as well as awards from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the State Department, and from Washington University in Saint Louis and Holy Cross College. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded him the National Security Medal, the nation’s highest intelligence award.
He is a member of the Board of Visitors of the National Intelligence University, of the Council on Foreign Relations, of the Board of Directors of Voices of September 11th (9/11 families). Since 2004, he has continued to serve on various committees of the National Academies of Science.
Gannon earned his BA in psychology at Holy Cross College, and his MA and PhD in history at Washington University in St. Louis. He served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Jamaica. He is a retired Naval Reserve Officer and Viet Nam veteran. He was elected to the city council in Falls Church where he also served as Chairman of the Planning Commission.
W. George Jameson, President & Board Member
George Jameson is a co-founder of the CII and has extensive legal, policy, and leadership experience in Government. He served in the U.S. Government for 33 years, mostly in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of General Counsel, and retired from CIA from the position of Director, Office of Policy and Corporate Coordination.
His assignments included positions as Counsel for the Directorate of Operations, Counsel for the Directorate of Intelligence, Counsel for the DDCI/CM, Counsel for CIC, and Chief of the Litigation Division, as well as Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs and Interim Director of Legislative Affairs at the Office of the DNI. Rotational assignments also included service as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Assistant White House Counsel.
As an attorney and national security consultant, his firm Jameson Consulting advises on national and international security-related matters, on both corporate and Government operations and governance, and provides training and education on national security matters. He lectures and has authored articles on “Intelligence and the Law,” and he is an Adjunct Staff member at the RAND Corporation.
Mr. Jameson is former President and CEO of the Central Intelligence Retiree’s Association (CIRA), where he previously served as member and then advisor to the Board of Governors; a former Member of the Steering Group for the National Security Law, Policy, and Practice Working Group of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia; and former member of the Advisory Committee, Standing Committee on Law and National Security of the American Bar Association.
Mr. Jameson received his A.B. from Harvard College (cum laude), a J.D. from William & Mary, and he is a member of the Bars of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia.
William D. Murray, Vice President, Treasurer & Board Member
William D. Murray has extensive leadership and management experience in the government and private sectors. He is a co-founder of the CII and has been involved in its development since the inception. He has taken part in most of the discussions with other organizations and individuals that guided the development of the organization, and, like Mr. Jameson, is a retiree from and well known within the Intelligence Community, which CII was created to serve.
Mr. Murray formed and operates a small but successful business consultancy that has been in business for six years. He is thoroughly familiar with all aspects of running small and medium-sized organizations. During his 40 years career as a Federal employee, he managed several large entities with multi-million dollar budgets. He has extensive experience with the kinds of issues the CII is designed to address as a result of managing employees who have found themselves in situations where they needed help.
Francie Schilling, Corporate Secretary
Frances (Francie) Schilling joined the Council on Intelligence Issues as its corporate secretary in 2019. Over her 29-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency, she held a variety of leadership and management positions in financial management, retiring from CIA in 2015.
She served in two overseas tours before becoming a senior executive. She also worked in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer in developing, justifying and overseeing the execution of the Agency’s budget. Later in her career she led the Business Strategies and Resources Center within the Technical area, providing a myriad of support and guidance involving contracting, logistics, IT, finance, and budget planning for the directorate.
Ms. Schilling graduated from Bucknell University with a BA and from Duquesne University with an MBA.
John Bennett, Board Member
John Bennett retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2013 after 33 years of service. His senior assignments included: Director, National Clandestine Service (NCS), Deputy Director NCS for Community Humint, Chief, Special Activities Division, and Deputy Chief Africa Division. Mr. Bennett served 18 years overseas, mostly in Africa. He served as a Chief of Station four times. He engaged in Cold War programs directed against Libya and Cuba, managed counter-terrorism operations in East Africa and Southwest Asia and led collaboration between the NCS and Intelligence Community, Defense and Law Enforcement partners.
Recipient of numerous CIA, IC, and DoD awards, Mr. Bennett has served on the Board of the CIA’s “Studies in Intelligence” and as Board member and Chairman, Central Intelligence Retirees’ Association (CIRA).
Prior to joining CIA he served as an infantry officer in the US Marine Corps. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard University and a Master’s Degree from Georgetown University.
Dawn R. Eilenberger, Board Member
Dawn Eilenberger is a consultant and served on CII’s Senior Advisory Committee before becoming a member of the CII Board. She also is on the boards of the Northwest Federal Credit Union (NWFCU) and the CIA Retiree Association (CIRA).
She became the Deputy Director of National Intelligence in April 2017. Previously she was the Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Policy & Strategy, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). In this role, she oversees the formulation and implementation of Intelligence Community-wide policy and strategy on the full range of intelligence issues, including collection, analysis, requirements, management and information sharing, and provides leadership for ODNI and IC initiatives on information sharing and the closure and disposition of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Before joining the ODNI, Eilenberger served as the Inspector General of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), where she completed the transition of the office to a statutory IG, including creation of a financial audit staff to oversee the first audit of NGA’s financial statements. As Inspector General, she provided independent oversight and accountability and acted as the NGA’s chief official responsible for investigating potential violations of law, rule or regulation. Eilenberger also served as NGA’s Director, Office of International Affairs and Policy, where she managed NGA’s international partnerships and developed and implemented geospatial intelligence policy and guidance, including intelligence sharing and disaster relief efforts. While at NGA, she also served as Deputy Director, Security and Installations and Associate Deputy Director for Policy.
Eilenberger began her government career in 1982 in the CIA’s Office of General Counsel (OGC). In 1988, she became chief counsel for CIA’s operations directoate, providing legal guidance on CIA operational activities. She became Chief of OGC’s Administrative Law Division in 1992, handling appropriations law, ethics, security and human resource issues. She was named Director of the CIA’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity in 1994. She became the CIA’s Principal Deputy General Counsel in August 1995, managing the day-to-day activities of OGC and providing legal advice to senior CIA officials on the full range of intelligence issues. Eilenberger served as the CIA’s Director of Finance from 1999 through 2004. Her programmatic responsibilities included the Auditable Financial Statements Program, the Working Capital Fund and financial support to operational activities.
Eilenberger graduated summa cum laude from Muhlenberg College with a B.A in history and political science and from the University of Virginia’s School of Law, and she has been admitted to practice law in Virginia and the District of Columbia
Mark M. Lowenthal, Board Member
Mark Lowenthal has served in several senior intelligence positions. He was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence; staff director of the House Intelligence Committee; Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production; and Vice Chair for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council.
Upon retiring from government service in 2005, Dr. Lowenthal established the Intelligence & Security Academy, LLC, which provides a range of courses on national security issues to government agencies and private sector firms. He is now President Emeritus of the Academy.
Dr. Lowenthal has taught at the graduate school level for many years. He was on the faculty at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, 1994-2008; the Krieger School, Johns Hopkins University, 2008-2021; Sciences Po, Paris, 2015-2023; and now the School for Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, since 2021.
Dr. Lowenthal has written extensively on intelligence and related issues, including seven books and dozens of articles. His book, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, now in its 9th edition, has become the standard college and graduate school textbook on this topic. In 2025, Yale University Press will publish his latest book, Vigilance Is Not Enough: A History of U.S. Intelligence, 1753-2023.
In 1988, Dr. Lowenthal was Grand Champion on Jeopardy!, the television quiz show.
Andrew Makridis, Board Member
Andrew Makridis retired from the Central Intelligence Agency at the end of 2022 after four years as its Chief Operating Officer—the number three position at CIA–culminating a thirty-seven year career at the center of the key national security challenges facing our nation.
Andy started his career as a graduate fellow in the Directorate of Science and Technology. He spent four years in the Directorate of Operations and over a decade in the Directorate of Intelligence working and then leading the technical analysis of Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean strategic weapons and space capabilities.
After 9/11 Andy was selected by CIA Director George Tenet to be President Bush’s daily intelligence briefer, serving in that capacity for three years. In 2004 he was chosen to lead the Agency’s worldwide nuclear threat analysis. Andy held senior positions for both Director Michael Hayden and Director David Petraeus; first leading the Agency’s East Asia, Africa and Latin America analysis office and then running the Agency’s foreign weapons analysis center.
Andy served on Director John Brennan’s Agency modernization panel, leading to the most sweeping CIA reorganization in fifty years. He became the first Director of the Weapons and Counter Proliferation Mission Center—one of the largest and most complex organizations at CIA and the Intelligence Community’s premier center for the analysis of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons threats.
In 2017 Director Mike Pompeo asked Andy to run the investigation into the CIA WikiLeaks data breach (aka Vault 7)—the largest and costliest security breach in Agency history. His work led to a significant restructuring of CIA’s cybersecurity posture. Later that year he was named CIA Associate Deputy Director for Science and Technology.
In 2018 Director Gina Haspel selected Andy to be the Agency’s Chief Operating Officer. In that role Andy led the day-to-day running of an agency equivalent to a Fortune 200 company. His responsibilities included planning and managing CIA’s budget, personnel, resources, security, information technology, and its multi-year strategy. Andy successfully navigated CIA and its workforce through the complexities of COVID while maintaining the Agency’s primary mission as the US first line of defense. As a result of Andy’s work CIA was the first federal Agency to acquire vaccine for its workforce.
Andy is known within CIA for being an outstanding leader and mentor. He was the first recipient of CIA’s George H.W. Bush award for leadership. Andy received the John A. McCone award for engineering excellence. He is a recipient of the CIA Intelligence Medal and three CIA Directors each honored him with the Director’s award. Andy is a three-time recipient of the Presidential Rank Award— the nation’s highest honor for civilian service.
Andy is from Rochester New York, the son of Greek immigrants. He has a B.S. in engineering from the University of Buffalo. His computer science M.S. work was done at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Andy will serve as a Kissinger Senior Fellow at Yale’s Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy in 2023. He is involved in charity work and is on the board of the Council for Intelligence Issues. Andy is married and has two children.
Mary Rose McCaffrey, Board Member
Mary Rose McCaffrey has served in multiple senior intelligence positions. She was the Director of Security, CIA; Director Security & Counterintelligence, National Reconnaissance Organization; Director, Special Security Center, Community Management Staff prior to the creation of the Office of Director of National Intelligence and a Joint Program Office within the Department of the Navy. She served the agency for over thirty years.
Following her retirement, she was the Vice President, Security, Northrop Grumman Corporation, an Aerospace and Defense Corporation, from 2016-2023.
She was one of two industrial members of the executive steering group for the Personnel Accountability Council (PAC), Office of the Executive Branch. She was an active member of AIA/NDIA. She served on the Overseas Security Advisory Council for the Department of State. She is currently the President of SIGNA, CIA Security Officers Retiree Organization.
Dawn Meyerriecks, Board Member
Dawn Meyerriecks was appointed Deputy Director of CIA for Science and Technology at the CIA effective October 21, 2015.
Ms. Meyerriecks was appointed Associate Deputy Director of CIA for Science and Technology at the CIA effective June 17, 2013.
From 2009 – 2013, Ms. Meyerriecks served as the Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Acquisition, Technology & Facilities. In this role, she explored and delivered complex technologies underpinning national missions.
From 2006 – 2009, Ms. Meyerriecks was an independent consultant providing senior leadership business and technology consulting direction to government and commercial clients. In addition to consulting, she served on a number of government and commercial advisory boards, including the STRATCOM C2 Advisory Group, the Defense Science Board, the NCTC Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences, the Unisys Federal Advisory Board, and the SunFed Advisory Board.
From 2004 – 2006, Ms. Meyerriecks served as the Senior Vice President for Product Technology at AOL. While at AOL, she was responsible for full lifecycle development and integration of all consumer-facing AOL products and services, including the relaunch of aol.com, AOL Instant Messenger, and the open client platform.
Prior to AOL, Ms. Meyerriecks worked for nearly ten years at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), where she was the Chief Technology Officer and Technical Director for the Joint Interoperability and Engineering Organization (JIEO). Her last assignment was to charter and lead a new Global Information Grid (GIG) Enterprise Services organization. Ms. Meyerriecks worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a senior engineer and product manager before her tenure at DISA.
In addition to being named the Government Computer News Department of Defense Person of the Year for 2004, Ms. Meyerriecks has been honored with numerous other awards, including Info World 2002 CTO of the year; Federal Computer Week 2000 Top 100; Info World 2001 CTO of the year for the government sector; the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, November 2001; the Senior Executive Service Exceptional Achievement Awards in 1998, 1999, 2000; and the National Performance Review in August 1996. In November 2001, she was featured in Fortune magazine as one of the top 100 intellectual leaders in the world.
Ms. Meyerriecks earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering with a double major in Business from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Loyola Marymount University.
Alan Wade, Board Member
Alan Wade retired from federal service at the end of 2005 after a thirty-five year career in the Central Intelligence Agency. He retired as the Chief Information Officer, a position he held since 2001.
Alan graduated from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1973, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1978, he received his Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Alan held a series of senior positions at CIA, including the Director of Communications, Director of Security, and Chief Information Officer. In his assignment as Chief Information officer, he was dual-hatted as the Chief Information Officer for the United States Intelligence Community.
During his career, Alan’s contributions were recognized several times. He is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Director’s Medal, and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
Since retirement, Alan has worked with several early stage companies. He served on the boards of Safeboot N.V. (acquired by McAfee in 2007), Detica DFI (acquired by BAE Systems in 2008), Composite Software (acquired by Cisco in 2013) and Applied Communications Sciences (acquired by The SI Organization in 2013). He currently serves on the boards of the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, CA, Professional Project Services in Oak Ridge, TN, and Siteimprove A/S in Copenhagen Denmark. Additionally, Alan serves on public sector advisory boards of several technology companies and is an investor in early stage technology companies.
Alan lives in Annandale Virginia with his wife and two children.
Robert Rizzi, Legal Advisor | Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
Robert Rizzi is a partner in the Washington office of the law firm Holland & Knight LLP. He advises domestic and multinational businesses on the federal and state income tax aspects of corporate and partnership business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, work outs, and joint ventures. He has more than four decades of experience providing tax planning for transactions in the financial services, telecom, real estate, technology, and hospitality sectors, primarily in international markets. He also advises high-net-worth families on transactional and cross-border matters, and provides tax advice and structuring for mid-market and private equity transactions in the US and abroad.
Bob also represents prospective political appointees requiring Senate confirmation through the vetting process. His clients have included cabinet and subcabinet members, administrators and commissioners of various agencies, and numerous ambassadorial appointees in both Democratic and Republican administrations.
He teaches government ethics at Harvard Law School, and has taught corporate taxation at Catholic University Law School, and government ethics at the Georgetown University Law Center. He writes a bi-monthly column, “Corporate Organizations and Reorganizations,” for the Journal of Corporate Taxation and is a founding editor of Mergers and Acquisitions, The Monthly Tax Journal.
Bob also served as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Education: Harvard Law School, J.D. (cum laude); M. Litt., New College, Oxford University, Marshall Scholar; Princeton University, A.B. (Phi Beta Kappa, Woodrow Wilson Scholar).
Bar Memberships: District of Columbia, New York, California