Meet Team Aiden

Richard A. Clarke served for thirty years in national security policy roles in the US Government, first in the Pentagon, then the State Department, and finally for an unprecedented decade of continuous service for three Presidents in the White House.

In the White House National Security Council for President Bush (41), Clinton, and Bush (43) he served as Special Assistant to the President for Global Affairs, National Coordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism (“Terrorism Czar’), and Special Advisor for Cyberspace (the first “Cyber Czar”).

Earlier, in the State Department he had been appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence in the Reagan Administration and was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of State for Politico-Military Affairs in the Bush (41) Administration. In the latter capacity, he coordinated elements in support of the First Gulf War. In the Pentagon and the State Department, he participated in a series of multilateral and bilateral nuclear arms control negotiations.

Following his government career, Dick Clarke was an on-air analyst for ABC News for fifteen years, taught at the Harvard Kennedy School for five years, lead a security risk management consulting firm (Good Harbor), and served on  corporate advisory boards and Boards of Directors, as well as chairing or serving on state and federal advisory boards on cybersecurity (including President Obama’s Advisory Group on Technology and Intelligence, the “NSA Review Group”).  He is the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Institute, an eight decade old educational institution based in Washington. He was a member of President Obama’s 2008 Transition team.

Clarke’s books include both non-fiction (5) and fiction (4). His seminal work on terrorism and al qaeda, Against All Enemies, was a number one NY Times best seller. His 2010 volume Cyber War, co-authored with Rob Knake, was a Washington Post bestseller and acknowledged as an early and foundational book in the field. Its sequel, the Fifth Domain; Defending our Country, our Corporations and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats, also written with Knake, was published in 2019.

Clarke is the recipient of membership in the Cybersecurity Hall of Fame, the RSA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Champion of Freedom Award from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. A graduate of Boston Latin School, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT, Dick Clarke is a resident of Virginia.