Ford School Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Javed Ali has been in the press recently commenting on a range of national security issues that have been in the news, including the president’s daily briefing and the cross-border tensions between India and China.
In an opinion piece for The Hill, Ali and Ford School graduate A’ndre Gonawela (MPP, ‘19) argue that the China-India clash “may have profound implications for regional and international security, potentially presenting a complicated security situation but also an opportunity for the United States to advance its interests with both countries… by deftly maneuvering to a warmer relationship with India that will generate multiple benefits for both sides and also demonstrating to China that its aggressive behavior in the region and against U.S. interests will be curbed.”
ABC News looked at the recent controversy over what President Donald Trump knew about U.S. intelligence has shed new light on how he -- or any president -- is briefed on top-secret information. Ali, who worked in the National Security Council at the start of the Trump administration, said the PDB is supposed to bring together all the information available to top officials.
“Theoretically the PDB is supposed to be a cross-functional product,” Ali said. “It fuses different perspectives and intelligence reporting, and shouldn't just be one agency constantly informing the most senior officials about what's happening in the world.”
Click to read the complete articles in The Hill and on ABC News.
Javed Ali is a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School. A former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, Ali has over 20 years of professional experience in national security and intelligence issues in Washington, D.C., serving in the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While at the FBI, he also held senior positions on joint duty assignments at the National Intelligence Council, the National Counterterrorism Center, and the National Security Council under the Trump Administration. Ali holds a BA in political science from the University of Michigan, a JD from the University of Detroit School of Law, and an MA in international relations from American University.
