That and other security questions will be on the table at our February meeting. Our special guest will be retired CIA analyst and Russia expert Mike Roosevelt.

Mike worked as an analyst and manager at the Central Intelligence Agency for 30 years, retiring as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service in 2015.

Hired for his expertise on the Soviet Union, he analyzed the politics of Russia and the other Soviet successor states throughout his career, but also took assignments focused on China, global crime and narcotics, interagency policy coordination, human resources, and in the Office of Inspector General.

He did policy rotations in the White House and Department of State and was then-Vice President Joe Biden’s first intelligence briefer after the 2008 presidential election.

In 2016, we saw a relatively out-of-control social media landscape become fertile ground for massive misinformation campaigns – many of the efforts organized by Russian actors. In this election, we have added artificial intelligence to that landscape. Already this cycle we’ve had an AI-simulation of Joe Biden’s voice on a robocall telling New Hampshire voters not to vote in their primary.

Mike will talk about the challenges and the tools we have to protect our free and fair elections. He may also be able to share some insights into the classified information case against Trump, and maybe some insights into why documents seem to turn up more frequently than you would think outside of secure locations. We’ll see what we can get out of him!

In retirement, Mike enjoys cycling, hiking, reading, writing, registering new voters, and building new houses with Habitat for Humanity. Mike graduated with a BA in History and French from Furman University and earned a Masters in Russian History from Penn State University.

You won’t want to miss this meeting, so please sign up now to join us on Feb. 12 @ noon, at the Kroc Center, 404 Westfield St., Greenville. If you can’t attend in person, please join via Zoom.