Nicholas Eftimiades

Nicholas Eftimiades is a nonresident senior fellow at the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Eftimiades currently holds an appointment with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Council, and has held appointments with the Defense Science Board and the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s Subcommittee on Economic Security. He is also a professor at the Penn State University Homeland Security Programs and is a member of the graduate faculty teaching homeland security, intelligence, and national security policy. He conducts research on China’s economic espionage and emerging space threats.

Eftimiades retired from a thirty-four-year government career including employment at the US Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, and Defense Intelligence Agency. He is widely regarded for his expertise on China and national security space issues. As a subject matter expert, he has testified before congressional committees and briefed numerous senior US and foreign officials, members of Congress, and staff.

Eftimiades has an MS in strategic intelligence from the National Defense Intelligence College and a BA in East Asian Studies from George Washington University. He lived and studied in China and Japan. He was a senior research fellow at the King’s College Department of War Studies in London. Eftimiades has authored books, reports, and articles on China’s intelligence methodology, national security space issues, and emerging technology. His book Chinese Intelligence Operations is an examination of the structure, operations, and methodology of the Chinese intelligence services. It is widely regarded as the seminal work in the field.