Avril Haines is a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford and a Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Avril is the former U.S. Director of National Intelligence and was a cabinet member during the Biden Administration, during which she led the U.S. Intelligence Community and served as the President’s principal intelligence adviser. She has held senior roles across government, including as an Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor, during which she chaired the Deputies Committee, the administration’s principal forum for formulating national security and foreign policy. She also served as Deputy Director of the CIA, Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, Assistant Legal Adviser for Treaty Affairs, and Deputy Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations—giving her experience in intelligence, policy, and legal positions over the course of both Democratic and Republican Administrations. Avril received a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and served as a law clerk for Judge Danny Boggs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Avril has consequently had the opportunity to serve in all three branches of government.

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Avril has been the recipient of numerous awards for her leadership and government service, including the NATO Parliamentary Assembly “Women for Peace and Security Award,” the Atlantic Council’s International Distinguished Leadership Award, the Business Executives for National Security Eisenhower Award, and the Washington International Business Council Award. U.S. allies have also recognized Avril’s work. For example, she received the Australian Intelligence Medal, the King’s Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, the Republic of Korea’s Order of Merit, Estonia’s Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, and the Romanian Medal of Honor.

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While outside of government over the years, Avril worked in academia as a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University and a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. She was also appointed by the President in 2017 to be a Member of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service and has served on a number of boards and advisory groups. Prior to law school, Avril received her bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Chicago and founded and ran a bookstore café for five years while engaged in community service in Baltimore.

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In January, MPSF welcomes Avril for an evening of insight into the forces shaping global security and international relations. Drawing from her experience at the highest levels of U.S. intelligence and policy, she offers a rare, behind-the-scenes perspective on today’s most pressing challenges. As part of the live, in-theater MPSF experience, this conversation will provide clarity, context, and meaningful dialogue on an increasingly complex world stage.