Tammy Thorp
Former Director of Public Affairs
CIA
Tammy Kupperman Thorp is an award-winning journalist and public affairs practitioner with more than 30 years of experience in public affairs, media, and national security, most recently serving as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Public Affairs. Just before joining CIA, Tammy directed media relations for BAE Systems, Inc. From 2017 to 2020, she led CNN’s coverage of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, focusing on issues including the Mueller investigation, immigration, and the confirmations of two Supreme Court justices.
Prior to her time with CNN, Tammy served in multiple roles within the Intelligence Community, primarily at the National Counterterrorism Center where she held senior positions in public and congressional affairs, managed the production and editing of the nation’s primary counterterrorism publications for senior US policymakers and the Intelligence Community, and led the team responsible for conducting strategic analysis of counterterrorism issues. She first joined the federal government in 2009 as a counterterrorism analyst for the Navy.
Tammy came to government after more than 16 years as a journalist for NBC News, where she was nominated for multiple Emmy awards, covering international security, foreign policy, intelligence, defense, and politics both domestically and overseas. In that time, she was based at the Pentagon, State Department, White House, London,
book that examines the role Ahmad Chalabi played in the US decision to go to war in Iraq.
She is the recipient of the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, CIA Director’s Award for Distinguished Service, and a National News Emmy. Tammy is a 1991 graduate of the University of Chicago, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and studied in the Committee on International Relations. She was a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2013-2014.
She previously served on the board of Ascend: Leadership Through Athletics, a non-profit dedicated to empowering women in Afghanistan through mountain climbing and community service.
Tammy is married to Rear Admiral Frank Thorp IV, USN (Ret.).
