Making important decisions under pressure can be tough for even the most confident individuals. Marc Polymeropoulos, a 26-year CIA veteran, has some solutions to offer. In his new book, Clarity in Crisis, Polymeropoulos shares his approach to leadership, an intentional process he honed over his long career, during which the consequences of his decisions held enormous weight.
As an expert in counterterrorism, covert action, and human intelligence, Polymeropoulos stands as one of the most highly decorated field officers in intelligence history. Through Clarity in Crisis, he hopes to share strategies with the civilian world that can help to avoid the damage caused by bad decisions made under pressure and to inspire the confidence needed to “lead when others want to flee.”
Marc Polymeropoulos is a nonresident fellow in forward defense at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Polymeropoulos retired from the CIA in 2019 after a 26-year career that brought him across the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe (during a trip to Russia in 2017, he experienced Havana Syndrome, symptoms of which he's still managing today). He is a recipient of the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the Intelligence Commendation Medal, and the Intelligence Medal of Merit. Polymeropoulos is a weekly contributor to the Washington Examiner, where he writes about intelligence issues. He holds a B.A. and an M.P.A. in political science and government from Cornell University.
Moderated by David McCloskey
David McCloskey is a former CIA analyst and former consultant at McKinsey & Company. While at the CIA, he wrote regularly for the President’s Daily Brief, delivered classified testimony to Congressional oversight committees, and briefed senior White House officials, Ambassadors, military officials, and Arab royalty. He worked in CIA field stations across the Middle East throughout the Arab Spring and conducted a rotation in the Counterterrorism Center focused on the jihad in Syria and Iraq. During his time at McKinsey, David advised national security, aerospace, and transportation clients on a range of strategic and operational issues.
David holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he specialized in energy policy and the Middle East. He lives in Texas with his wife and three children.
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