Michele L. Malvesti currently serves as Professor of Practice in International Security
Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
She also currently serves on the Director’s Advisory Board for the National
Counterterrorism Center (NCTC); the Board of Directors for the Special Operations
Warrior Foundation; and the Board of Advisors for the Center on Sanctions and Illicit
Finance. She also is a Senior Advisor to the Financial Integrity Network, and she serves
on the Advisory Board to root9B, a cyber-security services firm.
Prior to her appointment at Fletcher, Professor Malvesti served as Lecturer and Senior
Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, where she taught both
graduate and undergraduate students. She previously also worked as a Vice President in
the National Security Sector at Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC,
and with its successor company, Leidos.
During her time in government, she served more than five years on the National Security
Council staff, including as the Senior Director for Combating Terrorism Strategy. During
this period (2002-2007), she advised the President’s National Security Advisor and
Homeland Security Advisor on counterterrorism policy and strategy. She briefly returned
to the White House in 2009 in order to co-chair the Presidential study review that reformed
the White House organization for homeland security and counterterrorism on behalf of the
Obama Administration.
She also has worked as a professional in the Intelligence Community, including at the
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), where she specialized in Middle East terrorism. Prior
to her work at DIA, she served as an intelligence analyst for the Joint Special Operations
Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Highest Distinction, in Political Science from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her Political Science degree was conferred with Highest
Honors. She received both a Doctor of Philosophy and a Master of Arts in Law and
Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.