Linda Weissgold

Linda Weissgold has been the Central Intelligence Agency’s Deputy Director for Analysis since March 2020. In that role, she is responsible for the quality of all-source intelligence analysis at the CIA and for the professional development of the officers who produce it.

Since joining the CIA in 1986, Linda has been part of the creation and delivery of intelligence analysis on a variety of complex issues and in multiple settings. Before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she was an analyst and leader of analytic programs focused on the Middle East. Immediately afterward, Linda was among those who volunteered for counter-terrorism assignments. The units she guided, including as the head of the CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis, generated insights that informed US policy and operations across multiple Administrations. For more than two years, Linda was a daily intelligence briefer for President George W. Bush. She has also served overseas.

Having managed large analytic offices dedicated to counter-terrorism and much of the Arab world, Linda was asked in May 2015 to become an Associate Deputy Director of the CIA Directorate she now leads. Experienced in the coverage of urgent and controversial issues, Linda is a teacher and champion of analytic tradecraft, integrity, and objectivity in intelligence analysis.

Linda is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, but strives every day to live up to the CIA Directorate of Analysis’ tenet of continuous learning. One of her greatest satisfactions is the chance each day to interact with, and learn from, colleagues at every level across and beyond the US Government.