Bio
Brian Latell has been a Latin America and Caribbean specialist since the 1960s. During his 35 years of service in the CIA and the National Intelligence Council he advised White House and other ranking American officials and members of Congress on Latin American developments. He teaches, lectures, consults, and writes, especially on Cuba and foreign intelligence matters. He has frequently advised US and foreign government policy making organizations and leaders, including presidents and ministers. In the late 1960s he served as a US Air Force intelligence officer in Texas, Louisiana, and Washington D.C.
He is the author of After Fidel: Raul Castro and the Future of Cuba’s Revolution (2005); Castro’s Secrets (2012); and History Will Absolve Me: Fidel Castro, Life and Legacy (2016). He is co-editor of Eye in the Sky, a history of the Corona reconnaissance satellite program (1998).
Dr. Latell has published for many years, more recently opinion and feature articles in Politico, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Time, New York Daily News, the Washington Quarterly and other prominent publications in North America, Europe, and Latin America. He has been employed by television networks as a consultant and on-air commentator, and has appeared in several historical documentaries.
From 1990-1994 Dr. Latell served as National Intelligence Officer for Latin America, the highest-ranking position for the region in the US intelligence community. From 1994-1998, he was Director of the CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence and editorial chairman of the journal Studies in Intelligence. He taught at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service for 26 years as an adjunct professor. From 2006 until 2015 he was Senior Research Associate in Cuba studies at the University of Miami. Currently, he is Adjunct Professor and Senior Research Associate at the Jack Gordon Institute for Public Policy of Florida International University.
In 1985-1986 he was a Senior Research Associate at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University publishing extensively, including the monograph, Mexico at the Crossroads. For three years before moving to Miami he was Senior Associate in the Americas Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He served two terms on the board of directors of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO).
Dr. Latell (History, Georgetown University) is the recipient of numerous academic and professional awards, including the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
