Amy Hess: Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity

07/22/20 • 78 min

1 Listener

Amy Hess dreamed – as a child – of being an astronaut. A star student and athlete in high school, she studied aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Purdue – though poor eyesight dashed her NASA dreams. Instead, Amy got her start in the FBI as a special agent in Kansas City, working violent crime. She rose quickly through FBI ranks to run the Memphis and Louisville field offices, and to run two large FBI divisions at headquarters, where she oversaw FBI technology in one job and the FBI’s criminal and cyber work, in another. Those jobs made her the highest-ranking woman in FBI history. Today, Amy is back home as the Chief of Public Safety for Louisville, Kentucky – across the Ohio River from the small Indiana town in which she grew up.

Following the tragic March 13 shooting of Breonna Taylor in Louisville this year, and after we recorded this episode, Amy was named to lead police reform efforts in that city – to reduce use of force incidents, to review police policies and training, and to make recommendations on police disciplinary matters by establishing an Independent Civilian Review Board.

Amy shares with host Chuck Rosenberg fascinating stories of her work as an FBI special agent, including at the site of the horrific 1995 domestic terrorism attack at the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. If you have thoughtful feedback on this episode or others, please email us at [email protected].

Previous Episode

Fiona Hill: Fortitude

Fiona Hill is the former Senior Director for Russia and Eurasia on the National Security Council. A highly respected scholar on Russian history and culture, Fiona was born and raised in the industrial northeast of England. She comes from a long line of coal miners – uncles, cousins – families, like hers, that persistently struggled with poverty. Fiona’s father, Alfred, joined his own brother in the coal mines at the age of 14. Her mother, June, who still lives in Bishop Auckland – was a midwife. And though money was always tight, Fiona grew up in a loving and supportive family that strongly embraced both her desire to go to college and, ultimately, to emigrate to the United States – a place her father loved and admired and always hoped one day might be his own home.

Guided by a series of dedicated mentors and teachers, Fiona graduated from the University of Saint Andrew’s in Scotland, and then earned her Ph.D. at Harvard. Along the way, she studied Russian history and culture and became fluent in its language.

Fiona became a naturalized American citizen in 2002 – a country that gave her opportunities that she would not have enjoyed in the UK, where the fact that she grew up poor and with a distinct working-class accent, she believes, would likely have held her back.

She served at the highest levels within the US government, on both the National Intelligence Council under Presidents Bush and Obama and, ultimately, on the National Security Council under President Trump. Fiona is deeply respected for her expertise on Russia and Eurasia and widely admired for her honesty, courage, intellect, and fortitude.

Fiona testified in the 2019 House impeachment hearings of President Trump, and you can find a link to her written testimony here.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/read-full-text-fiona-hill-s-opening-statement-public-impeachment-n1088351

Fiona is also the author or co-author of three books about Russia and Vladimir Putin:

· The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold, with Clifford Gaddy (2003)

· Energy Empire: Oil, Gas and Russia's Revival (2004)

· Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin, with Clifford Gaddy (2015).

Fiona shares with host Chuck Rosenberg reflections on her extraordinary public service career and her work at the highest levels of the National Security Council. If you have thoughtful feedback on this episode or others, please email us at [email protected].

Next Episode

Mike Leiter: Intelligence

Mike Leiter grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, where his extraordinary public service career began early – in high school – when he worked as an Emergency Medical Technician. After graduating from Columbia University, Mike served as a Naval Flight Officer before attending Harvard Law School, where he was one of only four military veterans in his class of more than 500 students. At Harvard, Mike was elected President of the prestigious Harvard Law Review – a job once held by Barack Obama.

After clerking on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for Judge Michael Boudin and then on the United States Supreme Court for Justice Stephen Breyer, Mike worked as a federal prosecutor. He left that job to become a key staffer on the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Commission - which examined substantial US Intelligence Community failures in the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Ultimately, Mike directed the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) under Presidents Bush and Obama – the organization responsible for analyzing terrorism threats against the United States and its interests, at home and abroad.

Mike shares with host Chuck Rosenberg fascinating insights on the US intelligence community, as someone who studied it on the WMD commission and as someone who ran a vital part of it at NCTC. You can find a link to the final report of the WMD Commission here:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-WMD/pdf/GPO-WMD.pdf

And you can read Mike's Washington Post Op Ed here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/06/weve-briefed-many-presidents-uncertainty-comes-with-job/

If you have thoughtful feedback on this episode or others, please email us at [email protected].