Jump to content
 







Main menu
   


Navigation  



Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
 




Contribute  



Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
 








Search  

































Create account

Log in
 









Create account
 Log in
 




Pages for logged out editors learn more  



Contributions
Talk
 



















Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 Education  





2 Career  





3 Personal life  





4 External links  



4.1  Media Appearances  





4.2  Nomination Materials from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence  





4.3  Congressional Testimony  







5 References  














Christine Abizaid






العربية
Հայերեն
Русский
 

Edit links
 









Article
Talk
 

















Read
Edit
View history
 








Tools
   


Actions  



Read
Edit
View history
 




General  



What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Get shortened URL
Download QR code
Wikidata item
 




Print/export  



Download as PDF
Printable version
 




In other projects  



Wikimedia Commons
 
















Appearance
   

 






From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Christine Abizaid
Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

Incumbent

Assumed office
June 29, 2021
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byChristopher C. Miller
Personal details
Born
Christine Sandra Abizaid
RelationsJohn Abizaid (father)
EducationUniversity of California, San Diego (BA)
Stanford University (MA)

Christine Sandra Abizaid (born February 7, 1979)[1] is an American intelligence officer who is the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Biden administration.

Education

[edit]

Abizaid earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and a Master of Arts in international policy studies from Stanford University.

A soccer player from an early age, Abizaid played forward for the NCAA Division II UC San Diego Tritons women's soccer team.[2] Her 36 career assists are the second most for the team all-time.[3][4] During her time with the team, the Tritons were California Collegiate Athletic Association and NCAA champions, and in her senior year she was saluted as "best of the best" by the UCSD Guardian newspaper.[3][5]

Career

[edit]

Abizaid has worked as a counterterrorism intelligence official in the Defense Intelligence Agency and on the United States National Security Council. During the Obama administration, she served as a senior policy advisor and assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism.[6] In 2014, she became the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.

In 2016, Ash Carter put Abizaid in charge of the Defense Innovation UnitinAustin, Texas.[7] Moving to the private sector, she joined Dell in 2017 as director for supply chain sustainability.[8][9]

Touring the National Counterterrorism Center's Watch Floor with President Joe Biden at the ODNI Headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia in 2021. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

The 2019 Form 990 for the Middle East Policy Council lists Abizaid as a Director.[10] As of December 2022 she remains listed as a Director on the organization's website.[11]

In 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Abizaid to serve as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center.[12] The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held open hearings on the nomination on June 9, 2021.[13] The full Senate confirmed her nomination by voice vote on June 24, 2021.[14]

In 2022, Abizaid participated in a July 1, 2022 Situation Room meeting with President Biden to prepare for a drone strike targeting al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The approved operation took place July 31, 2022. President Biden made a public address confirming the operation had killed Zawahiri on August 1, 2022.[15][16][17]

In subsequent testimony to Congress, Abizaid asserted that as a result of Zawahiri's death, the threat of al-Qaeda "is less acute than at any other time since 9/11," and "the most likely threat in the United States is from lone actors, whether inspired by violent extremist narratives, racially or ethnically motivated drivers to violence, or other politically motivated violence."[18] Writers for Lawfare were led to state that following the operation, it was "difficult to believe that [al-Qaeda] can exert the same threat given its leadership depletion".[19]

In 2023, delivering a lecture before the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Abizaid noted that al-Qaeda has yet to publicly announce a successor following Zawahiri's death. Her comments briefly mentioned Saif al-Adel and Abd al-Rahman al-Maghribi as possible candidates.[20][21]

Personal life

[edit]

Abizaid, a Lebanese American, is the daughter of John Abizaid, a retired United States Army general who served as Commander of the U.S. Central Command during the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and diplomat, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President Donald Trump.[22]

Abizaid disclosed on her 2021 questionnaire to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that she is married to a woman.[23] She was also accompanied to her Senate confirmation hearing by her wife, whom she acknowledged in her remarks. She was the first female and first openly gay director of the National Counterterrorism Center.[24][25]

In May 2022, Abizaid spoke with Michael Morell for the CBS News podcast Intelligence Matters, affirming her sexual orientation and that she recognizes "that it's important and it's important to be seen in the position that I'm in, that people will look at what I'm doing and will take a representation of that and latch on to it - good, bad or indifferent."[26] The following month, she spoke to an audience at a Defense Intelligence Agency Pride Month event, speaking about having once been closeted at the agency. She commented that, "I could have been more brave and placed more trust in people," and that "frankly, it's just easier," being open.[27]

[edit]

Media Appearances

[edit]

Nomination Materials from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

[edit]

Congressional Testimony

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "WorldCat Identities". WorldCat. Archived from the original on August 1, 2022.
  • ^ "2000 UC San Diego Women's Soccer Roster". UC San Diego Tritons. 2000. Archived from the original on October 17, 2000. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  • ^ a b "She's Simply the Best". UCSD Guardian. 2001-01-11. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ "Women's Soccer Record Book". UC San Diego. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ "Goodbye to the Tritons' Best of the Best". UCSD Guardian. 2001-05-07. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ "DNI Haines Statement on the President's Intent to Nominate Christine Abizaid as NCTC Director". www.dni.gov. Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  • ^ "SECDEF Announces Another Link to Tech Innovators". CHIPS. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate 11 Key Administration Leaders on National Security and Law Enforcement". The White House. 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  • ^ "Christine S. Abizaid". www.defense.gov. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  • ^ "MIDDLE EAST POLICY COUNCIL FOUNDATION - Form Form 990 for period ending Dec 2019 - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  • ^ "Board of Directors | Middle East Policy Council". mepc.org. Archived from the original on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  • ^ "President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate 11 Key Administration Leaders on National Security and Law Enforcement". The White House. 2021-04-12. Archived from the original on 2021-04-12. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  • ^ "Open Hearing: Nomination of Christine Abizaid to be Director of National Counterterrorism Center of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Nomination of Robin Ashton to be Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)". Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Archived from the original on 2022-06-07. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  • ^ "PN368 - Nomination of Christine Abizaid for Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 117th Congress (2021-2022)". www.congress.gov. 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  • ^ Baker, Peter; Cooper, Helene; Barnes, Julian E.; Schmitt, Eric (2022-08-01). "U.S. Drone Strike Kills Ayman al-Zawahri, Top Qaeda Leader". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ "Background Press Call by a Senior Administration Official on a U.S. Counterterrorism Operation". The White House. 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ Bennett, Brian; Hennigan, W. J. (2022-08-01). "Biden Hails al-Zawahiri Killing as Sign of American Resolve". Time. Archived from the original on 2022-08-02. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ Testimony before the Senate hearing, Threats to the Homeland: Evaluating the Landscape 20 Years After 9/11 (PDF), U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 2021-09-21
  • ^ Taneja, Kabir; Pantucci, Raffaello (2022-12-04). "Did al-Qaeda Die With Ayman al-Zawahiri?". Lawfare. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ Singh, Kanishka; Landay, Jonathan (2023-01-10). "Al Qaeda succession after al-Zawahiri's death still unclear -U.S. official". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  • ^ Christine, Abizaid (2023-01-10). "A Survey of the 2023 Terrorism Threat Landscape". The Washington Institute. Archived from the original on 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-01-11.
  • ^ Barnes, Julian E. (2021-04-12). "Biden chooses a former Pentagon official to run the National Counterterrorism Center". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  • ^ Abizaid, Christine (2021-05-04). "Response to Questionnaire for Completion by Presidential Nominees" (PDF). intelligence.senate.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  • ^ Barnes, Julian E. (2021-06-09). "A Senate committee questioned Christine Abizaid, Biden's nominee for a top counterterrorism post". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  • ^ Gazis, Olivia (June 5, 2024). "U.S counterterrorism chief Christy Abizaid to step down after 3 years on the job - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com.
  • ^ "Counterterrorism Chief Christy Abizaid on top terror threats - "Intelligence Matters"". www.cbsnews.com. 11 May 2022. Archived from the original on 2022-05-11. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  • ^ "NCTC Director Christy Abizaid talks about bringing authentic self to workplace". www.odni.gov. Archived from the original on 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2022-06-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

  • Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christine_Abizaid&oldid=1234337831"

    Categories: 
    Living people
    UC San Diego Tritons women's soccer players
    Stanford University alumni
    Biden administration personnel
    Obama administration personnel
    American people of Lebanese descent
    American LGBT military personnel
    1979 births
    American women's soccer players
    Women's association football forwards
    Sportspeople of Lebanese descent
    Women government officials
    Hidden categories: 
    CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown
    Articles with short description
    Short description is different from Wikidata
    Articles with hAudio microformats
    Articles containing potentially dated statements from December 2022
    All articles containing potentially dated statements
    People appearing on C-SPAN
    Articles with VIAF identifiers
    Articles with LCCN identifiers
     



    This page was last edited on 13 July 2024, at 20:59 (UTC).

    Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.



    Privacy policy

    About Wikipedia

    Disclaimers

    Contact Wikipedia

    Code of Conduct

    Developers

    Statistics

    Cookie statement

    Mobile view



    Wikimedia Foundation
    Powered by MediaWiki