Marc Polymeropoulos is a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Polymeropoulos worked for twenty-six years at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) before retiring in July 2019 at the Senior Intelligence Service level. He was one of the CIA’s most highly decorated operations officers, serving in multiple field and headquarters assignments for the US government. Polymeropoulos received the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the Intelligence Commendation Medal, and the Intelligence Medal of Merit. He specialized in counterterrorism, the Middle East, and South Asia, spending extensive time in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just prior to his retirement, Polymeropoulos served at CIA headquarters and was in charge of the CIA’s clandestine operations in Europe and Eurasia.

Polymeropoulos frequently comments on international events in the US media, including the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News, GQ, Yahoo News, CNN, and MSNBC. He also writes a weekly column on intelligence as a Washington Examiner contributor. Polymeropoulos’s book, “Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA,” was published by Harper Collins in June 2021.