William Evanina
National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director
William R. Evanina was born in 1967 in Pecksville, Pennsylvania. He attended Keystone College where he played basketball, then transferred to Wilkes University where he earned an undergraduate degree in public administration. Later, he would earn a master’s degree in Educational Leadership at Arcadia University.
He entered government service working for the General Services Administration, then joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent. After working on organized crime units, and counterintelligence, he became a certified SWAT team member as well as a certified sniper. He was involved in the investigations into the attacks of 9/11/2001.
He became a Supervisory Special agent in the Joint Terrorism Task Force, leading numerous investigations. He would later be assigned to the FBI’s National Security Branch in Washington where he led both counterintelligence and counterterrorism operations. He was put in charge of the joint FBI and CIA Counterintelligence Division / Counterespionage Group. He was appointed by James Clapper to head the office of the National Counterintelligence Executive.
In February 2018, President Trump nominated Evanina to the directorship of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center
In the News…
At a meeting of the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, William Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said, “We had a horrible year last year in 2019, with indictments, arrests, convictions of clearance holders, as well as arrests, indictments, convictions of noncritical collectors in the private sector—theft of intellectual property and trade secrets. It was not a good year for industry nor the government.”
China, in particular, has been a subject of concern as a number of former intelligence officers have been recruited by Beijing to pass along government secrets. At least four Americans pleaded guilty or were convicted of espionage or attempted spying in the past two years.
Top government officials have increasingly warned about China’s “whole-of-society” approach to conducting espionage through its intelligence services, state-owned enterprises, private companies, students, and researchers.
Evanina said Russia, Iran, and North Korea join China as being a top threat to U.S. national security.
“We are going to then take a look at a whole-of-nation approach, a whole-of-society approach to what we believe are true to our values, our laws, our morals, what we believe to be true about the fundamental nature of our country,” Evanina said of a new plan. “From election security to foreign influence, economic security to critical infrastructure, we are going to look at everything and say it is no longer a government-just issue—it’s everyone’s issue.”
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Director Evanina today? You can let him know at:
Director William Evanina
National Counterintelligence and Security Center
1500 Tysons McLean Dr.
McLean, VA 22102
