Christy Abizaid (R in 2021) is resigning as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in July. File Photo by Alex Edelman/UPI | License Photo
After three years as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christy Abizaid is resigning in July, federal officials confirmed Wednesday.
Abizaid, 45, will be replaced by Bureau of Intelligence and Research Director Brett Holmgren, who will serve as acting director of the NCTC. Advertisement
Abizaid hasn’t announced her career plans.
“Christy Abizaid is an extraordinary leader who is not only incredibly effective but principled, courageous and kind,” Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, said in a prepared statement.
“We will miss her, but we are beyond fortunate to have Brett Holmgren taking on the leadership of NCTC,” Haines said.
Haines called Holmgren a “truly exceptional leader in the counterterrorism field.”
The NCTC is the federal government’s leading counterterrorism analysis group and tracks known and suspected terrorist while working with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.
Abizaid is the first woman and first openly gay person to be the nation’s top counterterrorism chief and previously was a senior counterterrorism official for the White House.
Abizaid also was a senior Southwest Asia policy adviser at the Pentagon before accepting the director position at the NCTC. Advertisement
Abizaid started her career in the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Joint Intelligence Task Force Combating Terrorism.
She also was a senior analyst in the Middle East Division and the Afghanistan-Pakistan Division.
Holmgren formerly was a counterterrorism analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, a senior analyst at the CIA and counterterrorism director at the National Security Council under then-President Barack Obama.
Lisa Kenna, former U.S. Ambassador to Peru and more recently the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary, will replace Holmgren as director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
