Michael Leiter
Michael Leiter CC '91 is director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He was initially appointed by George W. Bush, and asked to stay on by Barack Obama.
Leiter followed his father, Eliot Leiter CC'54, to Columbia. After graduation, he joined the air force and flew in the mid-90s Balkan Wars. He attended law school at Harvard, where he was elected president of the law review. He then clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. He was inspired to enter the national security field by the attacks of September 11, 2001.
