(EPOCH TIMES) — My career has taken me around the world, including the combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan to support our troops. Those travels have helped me appreciate how fortunate I am to have been born in America—home of the free because of the brave.
On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, people across our nation gathered in remembrance of the lives lost and the heroes who selflessly gave their lives to save others. On Sept. 11, 2001, I was in Washington and saw the hole in the Pentagon. Later, I traveled to New York and saw the massive hole where the Twin Towers had once stood. Those are images I’ll never forget.
In 2002, I was recruited into government service to lead necessary change and transformation in the intelligence community (IC), including better integrating our imagery and signals intelligence enterprises—America’s eyes and ears. I was sworn in as a senior executive in defense intelligence and was a civilian peer to general and flag officers. After the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was established, I was sworn in as the first IC deputy chief information officer at ODNI. In that role, I worked across the 17 agencies that are a part of the U.S. IC and regularly met with the leadership of both the IC and the Department of Defense.
