James Bruce is a former CIA analyst who retired as a senior executive officer after nearly 24 years. He later worked at the RAND Corporation in Washington, D.C. as a senior political scientist for 12 years, and another seven as an adjunct researcher. At RAND, he focused on intelligence support to U.S. government clients in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community on such issues as the methodology of analysis, the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, secrecy in government, and military deception.
As a senior CIA officer, Dr. Bruce served as deputy national intelligence officer for science and technology in the National Intelligence Council. He examined Soviet military research and development, KGB activities at home and abroad, and civil unrest in the Soviet Union leading to its collapse. His work in the post-Cold War environment chiefly addressed foreign deception of U.S. intelligence and its impact on human and technical intelligence collection effectiveness. He held management positions in both analysis and operations including as chief of counterintelligence training. He also served as a senior staff member on a presidential commission that investigated the intelligence failure involving weapons-of-mass-destruction (WMD) in Iraq.
James Bruce has written or coauthored numerous articles and book chapters in his field, including “Counterintelligence Analysis: Catching Spies and Countering Foes,” in Roger Z. George and Robert Levine (eds.), The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside (Georgetown University Press, 2024); “Evaluating Legacy: Building Indigenous Capacity” in Policing and COIN Operations: Lessons Learned, Strategies, and Future Directions (National Defense University Press, 2011); and “The Group Matters: A Review of Processes and Outcomes in Intelligence Analysis” for Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice (2011).
Recipient of numerous awards, he won the DCI Galileo Award in 2004, the CIA Career Intelligence Medal in 2005, Georgetown University’s Vicennial Award in 2015; and the Gold Medal Bonus Award in 2008 and the Gritton Award in 2015 at the RAND Corporation.