Clint Watts

Career U.S. Army officer Watts served in the United States Army as an officer in the infantry. He was the Executive Officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at United States Military Academy at West Point (CTC). After the September 11 attacks, he was recruited into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to help coordinate efforts combating terrorism across multiple agencies.

FBI Agent Watts worked as a Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In this capacity he served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Watts has consulted for the FBI Counterterrorism Division (CTD) and FBI National Security Branch (NSB).

National security research

In January 2013, Watts founded Miburo Solutions, a boutique consulting firm focused on the detection of and response to foreign information operations. On June 14, 2022, Microsoft announced they entered an agreement to acquire Miburo. The acquisition completed on July 1, 2022. As part of the acquisition, Watts joined Microsoft as General Manager, Digital Threat Analysis Center (DTAC).

U.S. Congress testimony Watts testified before the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on April 5, 2016, about the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's November 2015 Paris attacks and the 2016 Brussels bombings. He submitted testimony to the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs on June 23, 2016, on the subject of ISIS strategies, in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting.

He testified as an expert witness about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, in a March 30, 2017 hearing before the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. CNN profiled him after the testimony in a piece "Russia investigation: Who is Clint Watts", where it was noted he gained knowledge in the field of Russian cyber hacking methods, after himself being a target in 2015 following his "Trolling for Trump" article; the FBI notified the Foreign Policy Research Institute of the attack. The American Interest. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden found the comment important to his investigation. After his testimony, he appeared on NBC's Meet the Press and explained ways the U.S. can better respond to cyberwarfare.

Selected bibliography