Clare M. Lopez, a retired operations officer with the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (CIA), has been named deputy director of the newly formed U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team (USCTAT), a 10-plus member council composed of nationally recognized military, counterterrorism, and intelligence experts, serving as the ascendant organization to a variety of subordinate counterterrorism initiatives, including a research arm, a special branch, an executive tasking branch, and Counterterrorism Task Force-SCMD (which is responsible for providing information to - and briefing - the Joint Services Detachment, S.C. Military Department).
USCTAT’s expert advisors include - among others - Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely (U.S. Army, Ret.), former FOX News military analyst; Dr. Walid Phares, professor and international terrorism expert; Jed Babbin, former U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense; and Col. Danny R. McKnight (U.S. Army, Ret.), the battalion commander (portrayed by actor Tom Sizemore in the movie, BLACK HAWK DOWN) in Task Force RANGER, Mogadishu, 1993.
“Like all of our advisors, Clare brings years of real world experience to the USCTAT table and is a leading voice in terms of educating the public about the terrorist threats facing us,” says USCTAT director and nationally recognized counter-terrorism expert, W. Thomas Smith Jr., a former U.S. Marine who today holds a commission in the S.C. Military Department. “She not only served 20 years with CIA, but it was operational service here in the U.S. and overseas involving counterintelligence, counternarcotics, and counter-proliferation issues with a regional focus on the former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. She speaks several languages - Spanish, Bulgarian, French, German, and Russian, and currently is studying Farsi. And she’s been working with the team since before we were a team.”
In addition to her deputy directorship, Lopez serves as both vice pres. of the Intelligence Summit and professor at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre) where she teaches courses on the Iranian Intelligence Services, and the expanding influence of Jihad and Sharia in Europe and the U.S. She is the former executive director of the Iran Policy Committee, and she is a consultant to DoD contractors that provide clandestine operations training to military intelligence personnel.
The U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team is an initiative of the Family Security Foundation, Inc. (FSFI).
Among FSFI’s other national security initiatives is an ongoing partnership with the U.S. Congress’s bipartisan Anti-Terrorism Caucus.
LTC Thomas S. Mullikin – deputy director, Legal Directorate, Joint Services Detachment (JSD), S.C. Military Department – serves as civil affairs officer for the U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team (USCTAT) and USCTAT’s Counterterrorism Task Force-SCMD. Mullikin previously served as Assistant Judge Advocate for the 360th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) USAR, United States Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations, U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
