The NSC Intelligence Directorate and China Challenge

Julia Curlee looks back on a career that took her from DIA and CIA deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan to briefing senior White House officials and serving on the National Security Council. We also discuss her transition while serving at CIA, briefing Mike Pence, the politicization of intelligence, the purges that pushed her out of government, and the consequences she believes that has had for U.S. national security.              
Find Julia here: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/contributors/jcurlee
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"Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"
00:00 – Start
01:09 – Growing Up in Hawaii & Wanting to Join the CIA
04:45 – 9/11, Iraq & Getting Hired by DIA
07:39 – Embedded With a Hostage Rescue Task Force in Baghdad
10:20 – Kidnapping Networks & Funding the Iraqi Insurgency
13:09 – Kirkuk, Zarqawi & High-Value Targeting
17:30 – When Intelligence Gets Politicized
20:04 – Telling Senior Officers the Iraq War Was Going Badly
21:06 – Getting Recruited Into the CIA
24:44 – CIA Analyst Training & Returning to Iraq
26:35 – The Sadr Uprising & Fighting in Sadr City
32:54 – The Rise of ISIS & an Intelligence Failure
36:58 – Afghanistan & Briefing General Petraeus
41:08 – Tension Between CIA Assessments & the Military
43:49 – Coming Out as Trans While Serving at CIA
49:13 – Fearing She Could Lose Her Career
52:25 – Becoming the First Person to Successfully Transition at CIA
58:51 – Volunteering to Brief the First Trump White House
1:04:55 – What the Presidential Daily Brief Actually Is
1:07:45 – Briefing H.R. McMaster, Trump & Mike Pence
1:11:55 – Moving to the National Security Council
1:16:16 – Why China Is the Generational Challenge
1:18:23 – Trump’s First Term vs. His Second
1:20:26 – Becoming Acting Senior Director for Intelligence
1:20:41 – 160 Career Staffers Fired in the Opening Days
1:22:06 – The Laura Loomer Purge
1:24:29 – Why the NSC Was Gutted
1:26:27 – Returning to CIA After Being Fired From the White House
1:28:13 – Leaving the Intelligence Community & Joining Lawfare
1:31:32 – How Politicization of Intelligence Affected the Iran War
1:37:45 – John Ratcliffe, CIA Leadership & the Loss of Expertise
1:39:04 – Intelligence, Election Security & Political Pressure
1:41:21 – Concerns Over CIA Involvement in Lethal Operations
1:43:21 – Life After CIA & Writing for Lawfare
1:47:00 – Why Julia Decided to Speak Publicly

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