Strauss: Mexico's Intelligence Agencies: A Conversation with Guillermo Valdes, former Director of Mexico's Intelligence and National Security Center (CISEN)
On January 30, 2017, the Robert Strauss Center is excited to welcome Guillermo Valdes Castellanos, former Director of Mexico's National Intelligence Agency (CISEN), and David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), for a conversation on "Evolving Threats and Capabilities: The Future of Mexican Intelligence Agencies".
This event is free and open to the public.
Guillermo Valdes was the Director of Mexico’s National Intelligence Agency (CISEN) between January 2007 and September 2011. As a member of Mexico’s National Security Council and the National Public Security Cabinet, his most important responsibilities included coordinating the efforts of both bodies to generate information to be used in the drafting of research, assessments, and strategic scenarios on issues contained in the national security agenda. He coordinated jointly with President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor John Brennan the Mexico-US High-Level Consultative Group on cooperation for security. He is the author of Historia del Narcotrafico en Mexico (The History of Drug Trafficking in Mexico) (Aguilar, 2013).
Before joining the CISEN, for 13 years he directed the area of politics and opinion surveys at Grupo de Economistas y Asociados, S.C. Some of the projects he developed in that capacity included a governability analysis model for the generation of political, economic and social scenarios. He began his professional career in the public sector, where he worked in various departments of the federal government (Presidency of the Republic and the ministries of Planning and Budgets, Social Development and Public Education) primarily as an advisor to the heads of those departments and in matters of public policy design.
David Shedd served as Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from August 2014 (following four years service as Deputy Director) to January 2015. As Acting Director he lead the Defense Intelligence Enterprise workforce comprised of more than 16,500 military and civilian employees worldwide. This workforce spans the Defense Intelligence Enterprise within the Department of Defense with an intelligence mission and/or function, plus all their stakeholders involved in creating, sustaining and enhancing mission capacity.
Mr. Shedd previously served from May 2007 to August 2010 as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Deputy for Policy, Plans, and Requirements, where he was responsible for overseeing the formulation and implementation of major Intelligence Community (IC) policies across the full spectrum of issues, from information sharing and IC authorities to analytic standards, among others. In particular, he led the review of Executive Order 12333, the foundational U.S. intelligence policy, which was revised by President George W. Bush in July 2008. Additionally, Mr. Shedd developed and implemented a National Intelligence Strategy, published in August 2009 for the IC and led all strategic planning efforts to determine future intelligence priorities for the Community and the Nation.
From May 2005 to April 2007, Mr. Shedd served as Chief of Staff and, later, Acting Director of the Intelligence Staff to the Director of National Intelligence. Prior to the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Mr. Shedd held intelligence policy positions at the National Security Council (NSC) from February 2001 to May 2005. He served as the NSC’s Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs and Reform. Mr. Shedd has been directly involved in the implementation of intelligence reform stemming from the 9/11 Commission report in July 2004, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Commission’s report to the President in March 2005.
From 1984 to 1993, Mr. Shedd was posted overseas in the U.S. Embassies in Costa Rica and Mexico. Mr. Shedd has also held a variety of senior management assignments at the Central Intelligence Agency, including Chief of Congressional Liaison.