Michael Morell

Michael Morell
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Acting
In office
November 9, 2012  March 8, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDavid Petraeus
Succeeded byJohn O. Brennan
In office
July 1, 2011  September 6, 2011
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byLeon Panetta
Succeeded byDavid Petraeus
3rd Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
In office
May 6, 2010  August 9, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byStephen Kappes
Succeeded byAvril Haines
Personal details
Born
Michael Joseph Morell

(1958-09-04) September 4, 1958
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyIndependent
SpouseMary Beth Manion
Children3
EducationUniversity of Akron (BA)
Georgetown University (MA)

Michael Joseph Morell (/məˈrɛl/; born September 4, 1958) is an American former career intelligence analyst. He was the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2010 to 2013 and twice as its acting director, first in 2011 and then from 2012 to 2013. He is also a professor at the George Mason University - Schar School of Policy and Government.

As a CIA analyst he was presidential daily briefer to George W. Bush, including both "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" for the President Only, August 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief and on the morning of September 11, 2001. In his book, The Great War of Our Time, Morell defends the use of drones by both the Bush and Obama administrations against suspected terrorists and he explains the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation techniques (what many call torture) by the Bush administration. He is now senior counselor and the global chairman of the Geo-Political Risk Practice at Beacon Global Strategies LLC, a consulting firm in Washington, D.C.