Mark M. Lowenthal

Mark M. Lowenthal (born September 5, 1948) is an author and adjunct professor at the Nitze School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. He has written five books and over 90 articles or studies on intelligence and national security. His book Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy has become a standard undergraduate and graduate text.

In 2005, Lowenthal retired from a career working with the United States Intelligence Community and a recognized national security affairs expert. Upon his retirement, he was commended for his work and commitment to the intelligence community by New Jersey Congressman Rush D. Holt Jr., in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He is the former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production and former Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council. He has also served in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), as both an office director and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

Lowenthal is a notable contestant on the American game show Jeopardy!, appearing five times, including winning the "Tournament of Champions" in 1988. In 1992, he co-wrote Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions, which was marketed as an instruction manual for prospective contestants of the trivia game show.

Personal background Lowenthal is married to Cynthia Lowenthal. Together, they have two children, Sarah and Adam. He also served as the Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council from 2002–2005. After the creation of the Director of National Intelligence, his position was realigned to meet the recommendations of the 9/11 and WMD Commissions. The functions of his position were divided and incorporated into several roles in the new ODNI structure.

As the Assistant Director, Lowenthal was instrumental in having the Intelligence Community adopt the National Intelligence Priorities Framework (NIPF). The framework provides guidance on the priorities of the President for intelligence collection requirements. It is the basis upon which all analysis and production decisions are made and ultimately impacts all members of the Intelligence Community. Reportedly, Lowenthal also started a process to evaluate the Community's performance against the NIPF.

Intelligence community reforms Lowenthal has been one of several voices in opposition to the initiatives to change the way the Intelligence Community produces analysis. He serves the intelligence community as the president and CEO of the Intelligence & Security Academy, LLC,

In 2007, Lowenthal attended the ODNI's Analytic Transformation conference held in Chicago. At that event, he took the microphone questioning the ultimate objective and endstate of analytic transformation. He called into question the ability of technological solutions like Intellipedia and A-Space to resolve some of the most pressing reforms in the community.

Lowenthal was quoted as saying, "I think, unfortunately, a lot of this is pandering to a bunch of commissions that have no understanding of what we do for a living, or the nature of our work, and to a workforce. And I don't think that's a sufficient ground for a transformation. And so I'm left here wondering, what's the end state? For what reason?" in 2005, he played in the first round of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions and won $5,000 after losing his first round game, and in 2014, he won in the first round of the Battle of the Decades, defeating Frank Spangenberg and Phoebe Juel.

His total cash winnings were $159,901, plus $10,000 from the Battle of the Decades.

In 1992, Lowenthal co-wrote Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions with Chuck Forrest, a fellow Jeopardy! champion. The book was marketed as an instruction manual for prospective contestants on "America's favorite question-and-answer game".

Published works Lowenthal, Mark M. Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, CQ Press; 10th edition, 2025. Lowenthal, Mark M. ‘’Vigilance Is Not Enough: A History of U.S. Intelligence’’ Yale University Press, 2025; Lowenthal, Mark M. The U.S. Intelligence Community: An Annotated Bibliography (Organizations and Interest Groups), Routledge, 1994. Forrest, Chuck; and Lowenthal, Mark. Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions, Grand Central Publishing, 1992. Lowenthal, Mark M. U.S. Intelligence: Evolution and Anatomy Second Edition (The Washington Papers), Praeger Paperback, 1992. . Lowenthal, Mark M. Leadership & Indecision (Harvard Dissertations in American History and Political Science), Dissertations-G, 1988. . Lowenthal, Mark M. Crispan Magicker, Avon Books, 1979. .