Paul R. Pillar

Paul R. Pillar is an academic and 28-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), serving from 1977 to 2005. He is now a non-resident senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Security Studies, as well as a nonresident senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. He was a visiting professor at Georgetown University from 2005 to 2012. He is a contributor to The National Interest. Background Pillar earned an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College (1969), and received the B.Phil from Oxford University (1971) and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University (1975 and 1978). Career Prior to joining the CIA in 1977, Pillar served as a U.S. Army Reserves officer in Vietnam, on active duty from 1971 to 1973. At the CIA, Pillar served in a variety of positions, including Executive Assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William H. Webster (1989–1991).