Michael Barry was the Senior Director for Intelligence Programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC) in 2017 and 2018.[1] He succeeded Ezra Cohen-Watnick who left in August 2017.[2] [3] Barry's appointment was well received within the NSC due to having years of experience in government and respect for established protocol, and due to his predecessor Cohen-Watnick's repeated clashes with the CIA, fellow NSC staffers, and Cabinet officials.[4] Barry has been a CIA official and served in the Air Force from 1982 and 1992, including as a special agent in its Air Force Office of Special Investigations and was deployed to Europe.[2] According to his LinkedIn profile, he graduated from Northeastern University in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. Barry was working in Afghanistan with Medecins du Monde in 1992.[5]
According to BuzzFeed, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Barry allegedly worked on a CIA sponsored assassination program to kill terrorists with Erik Prince.[6] Prince was removed from the program in 2006, and it was disbanded in 2009, after Barack Obama became president.[7]
It was reported in July 2018 that Barry would be leaving his NSC position to return to CIA.