Michael Leiter

Michael Leiter's Speech Descriptions

Michael Leiter has been in the forefront of the U.S. government’s efforts to detect and confront evolving national security threats since 9/11. Drawing from a career where the stakes are millions of lives and the safety of nations, Leiter delivers priceless lessons on crisis management, leadership skills, and constantly transforming your organization with the aim of staying one step ahead of the dangers and threats present in the world. Humble and authentic, he offers key insights on how the challenges of big data and national security in the last 15 years can help protect critical infrastructure, health information, and financial networks.

Leading in a Crisis: Before, During, and After

For more than four years Leiter served at the heart of terrorism crisis management in the U.S. Government as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center—the post-9/11 organization created to serve as the hub of intelligence and policy planning for the U.S. counterterrorism community. Over the course of two administrations, Leiter helped lead the U.S. Government’s efforts to respond to repeated crises and high-stakes events, such as al-Qaida’s failed attempt to bring a U.S. airliner down over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, a failed car bomb attack in Times Square, the tragic shooting at Ft. Hood, and the successful mission that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden. Through examples from these and other events, Leiter shows how principled, thoughtful, visionary, and energetic leadership can carry an organization through crises and—more importantly—can lead to improvements in mission effectiveness that might otherwise be impossible. Leiter’s lessons of motivating and focusing a workforce, working with critical partners and customers, and effecting change apply to a wide range of businesses and organizations well-beyond those involved in combating terrorism or involved in the national security enterprise.

Are We Keeping Up in a Rapidly Changing World?

Reflecting on more than two decades in public service and having been deeply involved in the U.S. Government’s national security and intelligence transformation of the past decade, Leiter discusses the ways in which the U.S. Government and the U.S. private sector is—and is not—keeping up with enormous global changes. In particular, Leiter talks about how the rapidly changing dynamics across the Middle East and North Africa, the increasingly dangerous aspects of cyberspace, and the worrisome availability of weapons of mass destruction are often outpacing our ability to address critical national security needs. In addition, Leiter describes how the private sector can help partner with the U.S. Government and foreign nations to address many of these challenges, as well as the ways in which many of our traditional policy, legal, and process solutions are falling short.

The Changing Face of Global Terrorism and Our Response
Having served as the nation’s chief counterterrorism analyst, strategist, and coordinator for two Presidents, Leiter describes all aspects of the terrorist threat the U.S. and global businesses face worldwide. Ranging from personal reflections on being in the Situation Room during the mission that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden to advising Presidents Obama and Bush on how to confront al-Qaida’s ideology, Leiter offers deep insight into how the global threat of terror has evolved, where it poses the greatest threats, and what strategies—both government and private sector—are best suited for reducing vulnerabilities. Leiter provides carefully tailored discussions related to terrorists’ use of attacks like those seen in Mumbai, India in 2008, the risks of terrorists’ use of weapons of mass destruction, how to combat homegrown terrorism, and cyber terror and ways to defend against it. In addition, Leiter uses his years of advising the Office of Management and Budget and the Congress on U.S. Government-wide counterterrorism programs to describe areas of opportunity for private industry to contribute to making U.S. and international counterterrorism efforts more effective.