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Expert Bio
Richard Falkenrath is senior fellow for national security at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also chief security officer at Bridgewater Associates, an investment manager, where he is responsible for leading implementation of cyber, physical, and staff security strategy. From 2010 to 2014, Falkenrath served as principal of the Chertoff Group, LLC, a security consultancy, advising clients on managing operational and information security risk, and was also a contributing editor to Bloomberg TV, where he commented several times per week on national security, foreign policy, and technology issues.
From 2006 to 2010, Falkenrath served as the New York City Police Department's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, where he strengthened the city's overall effort to prevent, prepare for, and respond to terrorist attacks. From 2001 to 2004, he held several leadership positions within the White House advising the president and his senior team, including director for proliferation strategy in the National Security Council. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Falkenrath was named special assistant to the president and senior director for policy and plans in the Office of Homeland Security. In January 2003, he was promoted to deputy assistant to the president and deputy homeland security adviser. During his career, he has also worked at Harvard Kennedy School. Falkenrath is a summa cum laude graduate of Occidental College and holds a PhD from the department of war studies at King's College London, where he was a British Marshall scholar.
Affiliations:
- Bridgewater Associates, chief administrative officer
- Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, mission committee of the board of governors
- Trilateral Committee, member
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The Boston Marathon bombings illustrate the stresses on domestic intelligence gathering and counterterrorism in a democratic system, says CFR’s Richard Falkenrath.
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Nuclear talks with Iran are unlikely to lead to a deal in the short term, but they have had some impact: easing tensions and calming oil markets, says CFR’s Richard Falkenrath.
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Which policies have worked and which ones need work ten years after the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history? CFR experts examine ten issues that have preoccupied U.S. planners.
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Terrorism and Counterterrorism
The reemergence of Yemen as a terror risk to the United States underscores the difficulties in combating al-Qaeda in weak states, says CFR’s Richard A. Falkenrath. -
Nine years after 9/11, the United States needs to combat the proliferating threat of Islamist radicalism abroad and anti-Muslim sentiment at home, says CFR’s Richard A. Falkenrath.
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