Nicholas Rasmussen is DHS Counterterrorism Coordinator Taskforce Director. The DHS CT Coordinator reports to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is the Department’s most senior official charged with coordinating counterterrorism-related activities – including intelligence, planning, operational, and policy matters – across DHS agencies and representing the Department’s relevant equities across the interagency and externally.

The CT Coordinator Taskforce Director will lead an organization-wide assessment to determine the efficiency of the current structure and internal processes, and develop and deliver recommendations and strategies to immediately improve planning, coordination, and operational execution of the critical CT efforts.

A national security professional with more than 27 years in U.S. government service, Rasmussen held senior counterterrorism posts at the White House and in the U.S. Intelligence Community from 2001 to 2017. He concluded his government career as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), leading more than 1,000 professionals from across the Intelligence Community, federal government, and federal contractor workforce. Rasmussen served in senior posts across three administrations, including as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council staff under Presidents Bush and Obama before being appointed Director of NCTC by President Obama and continuing his tenure at the request of President Trump’s administration. From 1991-2001, he served in policy positions at the Department of State, focused on the Middle East.

Most recently, Rasmussen served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT), a 501©3 organization charged with preventing terrorists from exploiting the online environment. He has held appointments as Visiting Professor of Practice at the School of Law, University of Texas at Austin; as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the National Security College of Australia National University; and as Distinguished Professor of Practice at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He was also a Non-Resident Senior National Security Fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership, where he served as Senior Director of National Security and Counterterrorism programs from 2018 to 2020.

Rasmussen holds a B.A. degree from Wesleyan University and an M.P.A. from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

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