Andrew “Swede” Borene is the Group Chief, Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning at National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). NCTC’s Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning (DSOP) executes NCTC’s mandate to ensure an integrated and effective CT effort across the Executive Branch. DSOP leads the counterterrorism enterprise in support of national-level policies and mission management through an objective, coordinated, and informed process of strategy development, resource alignment, implementation monitoring, and strategic assessment. He was previously the designated Civil Liberties, Privacy and Transparency Officer for the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

While at NCSC, Borene advised the Director of NCSC in matters related to general leadership of the U.S. counterintelligence enterprise and security initiatives throughout the U.S. Government. He led privacy policy, civil liberties protection oversight, transparency initiatives, and other stakeholder engagement efforts.

Borene is an intelligence officer, licensed attorney, and a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) with more than 20 years of experience in management, security, law, operations, and investigations. He serves pro bono on the Executive Board of the National Defense Industrial Association’s (NDIA) Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC) Division and as an honorary chairman of the Cyber Security Summit. He is an adjunct professor, affiliated at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Prior to ODNI, Borene was turnaround CEO of a publicly traded US encryption developer and a Managing Director at a leading international cybersecurity company. He held management roles at IBM, Booz Allen Hamilton, LexisNexis, and Wells Fargo. He founded and led public private partnerships in areas including cybersecurity, robotics, and open source intelligence (OSINT). In the Intelligence Community, Borene was a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and an advisor to leaders at Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He was an Associate Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Defense. He studied peace-building and community policing in Northern Ireland, as a U.S. State Department funded fellow. After 9/11, he served as a Marine Corps military intelligence officer, including overseas as the Special Security Officer (SSO) at 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  In academia as an adjunct professor, Borene has written and edited books, chapters and articles on US Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Irregular Warfare, Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, Technology and National Security Law.

Borene has a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School and a B.A. in Economics from Macalester College. He completed the US Marine Corps’ Amphibious Warfare School and an executive education program in international development finance at Harvard University. An enthusiastic traveler and foreign language student, he spent significant periods of time in Rome, in London, and was a high school exchange student in the Mexican state of Chiapas. He is a recipient of the FBI Director’s Award and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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