30 years leading national security, intelligence, & crisis response teams.
Speaker, advisor, and writer on global risk, emerging threats, organizational resilience, and preparing for what comes next.
Contact Me
For media and publicity requests, contact:
Johanna Ramos-Boyer
Cathy Saypol
For talent inquiries, contact:
David Buchalter, UTA
David.Buchalter@unitedtalent.com
About Steve
Steve Hirsch is a former senior CIA executive with more than three decades of experience in intelligence, national security, crisis response, and organizational leadership. Over the course of his career, he has worked at the intersection of some of the most consequential challenges facing the United States, from terrorism and geopolitical conflict to chemical and biological threats, emerging technology, and institutional resilience, and has served in crises and war zones across the globe.
Following the September 11 attacks, Steve served as a Presidential Daily Brief briefer, briefing cabinet-level officials including the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, as well as the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He served as a liaison between these senior government leaders and the CIA during a period when the United States was confronting rapidly evolving threats and making decisions with extraordinary national security consequences.
Steve's career has given him an unusually broad view of how threats develop and how institutions respond. He has served in senior counterterrorism and Near East crisis leadership roles and earlier worked as an analyst focused on chemical and biological weapons, including the countries and facilities developing them. His work took him to conflict zones and gave him firsthand experience with the realities behind intelligence assessments and national security decision-making.
As his career progressed, Steve moved into senior executive positions that expanded his focus from analyzing threats to strengthening the institutions and people responsible for confronting them. As Deputy Director of the CIA's Office of Public Affairs, he led external and internal communications and helped transform how the Agency communicated with its staff around the world and with the public. As Director of the Business Analytics Group, he led analysts, data scientists, and technology specialists in modernizing the use of data and emerging analytical tools to provide clearer, policy-relevant insights.
Steve also served as the CIA's Chief Learning Officer, overseeing a global organization responsible for preparing Agency personnel across disciplines ranging from intelligence analysis and field work to digital capabilities, business analytics, and administration. Throughout his leadership career, he became known for building high-performing teams, navigating complex organizational change, and creating cultures in which people could perform at their best.
Today, Steve brings that experience to conversations about the national security challenges shaping the next decade, including geopolitical instability, terrorism, biological threats, food and agricultural security, critical infrastructure, artificial intelligence, organizational resilience, and America's preparedness for the unexpected.
A former U.S. Army and California National Guard field artillery officer, Steve holds a master's degree in International Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a bachelor's degree in Political Science from California State University, Northridge.
In his spare time, he writes dystopian future fiction—stress-testing leadership principles in worlds where the stakes are even higher.
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