Daniel Hoffman

Daniel Hoffman had a distinguished career with the Central Intelligence Agency, where he was a three-time station chief and a senior executive Clandestine Services officer.

Dan Hoffman led large-scale HUMINT (human intelligence gathering) and technical programs and his assignments included tours of duty in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and war zones in the Middle East and South Asia.  Hoffman served as director of the CIA Middle East and North Africa Division.

A recognized expert on Russia and counterterrorism, Hoffman covered President Trump’s summits with Russian President Putin in Finland as well as with Kim Jong Un in Hanoi and Singapore as a member of the media. Hoffman regularly speaks on national security issues as well as applying lessons learned from a career at CIA to leadership and cybersecurity.

During his 30 years of government service, Hoffman also served with the U.S. military including as an associate professor at the Army Command General Staff College.

Hoffman graduated from Bates College with a B.A. in History. He has a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (2006).

Hoffman is married and the proud father of two children.

Leadership Lessons Learned From the War Zone

Mr. Hoffman shares his perspective on leadership lessons learned from serving in senior Intelligence Community positions in overseas war zone locations as well as inside the Beltway where he ran CIA covert operations and delivered critical intelligence assessment, especially on the Middle East and South Asia to senior U.S. Government officials.  Using experiences from overseeing operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mr. Hoffman emphasizes the importance of getting the big ideas right and describes the role of Human Intelligence (HUMINT) in our national security policymaking process.  Explaining the role of collection, analysis, and executive decision making while highlighting the importance of delineating the confidence level of analytical decisions, Mr. Hoffman applies leadership lessons from his service at CIA to private sector challenges.

Turning Traffic Lights Green: Applying an Intelligence Model to Cyber Security

What would happen if a cybercriminal simultaneously turned all of the traffic lights in Manhattan green?

Cyberspace serves as a great force multiplier for free expression and commerce. It is also an open, unregulated playing field for criminals and malicious actors, leaving citizens vulnerable to attacks, which can change, steal or destroy data. Having served the better part of the past three decades in the intelligence community, former CIA Officer Daniel Hoffman shares his perspective on integrating human intelligence with technical countermeasures as a robust strategy for more effectively protecting the data, money, and reputation on which commercial success relies.  Relying on his deep experience in cyber operations and counterintelligence, Mr. Hoffman outlines a three pronged capability based cybersecurity strategy focused on assessing the battlespace, striving for a 360 degree optic, and defending against the insider threat.

Resurgent Russia

During the previous decade booming international demand and high oil prices sparked Russia’s economic recovery and concurrent reemergence on the world stage as a significant power player.  Vladimir Putin has led a resurgent and aggressive foreign policy, both in the former Soviet Union whose collapse Putin famously said in 2005 was a major geopolitical disaster of the twentieth century, and beyond Russia’s traditional sphere of influence to U.S. shores.   Russia is now mounting intense covert influence operations against Europe and the U.S. and deploying its land, air, and sea assets in the former Soviet Union, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America at levels unmatched since the fall of the Soviet Union.   A recognized expert on Russia who covered the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki as part of his post-CIA media career, Mr. Hoffman uses his experience, including CIA cloak and dagger stories, to lift the veil on Putin’s strategy