2026 WLC SPEAKERS

During her more than three-decade career as a leader in the Intelligence Community—including roles in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, CIA, U.S. Department of State, and White House—Beth Sanner was a trusted adviser to multiple U.S. presidents, congressional and cabinet officials, and foreign partners on the nation’s most critical intelligence and national security matters. In her roles as the senior-most analyst for the entire Intelligence Community (IC), Deputy Director of National Intelligence, President Trump’s intelligence briefer, and Director of the President’s Daily Brief, she uncovered threats to the country and briefed U.S. presidents and senior leaders on their potential impact. Having served in several national security leadership, staff, policy, and analytic positions, Sanner was among the most influential voices in presidential decision-making on national and global affairs. Her acumen remains highly sought after by our nation’s leaders and organizations across various industries.

Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, Sanner uniquely immerses audiences in her talks, bringing them on a behind-the-scenes briefing on hot-button developments. Drawing from more than 35 years leading at the highest levels of intelligence, she makes sense of fast-moving events and threats to our national security, drawing connections between domestic and foreign policies, analyzing complex geopolitical factors, and offering her predictions for how events will unfold. She neatly blends key analytics with compelling visual storytelling to share important insights in a way that is easily digestible for audiences.

Regarded as an innovator, change agent, and leadership expert in intelligence circles, she oversaw the elements that coordinate and lead collection, analysis, and program oversight throughout the Intelligence Community (IC) during times of crisis both at home and abroad. Throughout her eight-year tenure at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the agency that provides oversight to the entire Intelligence Community, she also briefed the president and his advisers several times weekly, managed the IC’s most influential analytic enterprises (the President’s Daily Brief and the National Intelligence Council), led the IC’s integration of core mission areas across 18 agencies and tens of thousands of employees, and drove organization-wide initiatives on innovative programs and technology adoption. Before the ODNI, Sanner spent more than a decade as a senior executive in the CIA’s Directorate of Analysis, responsible for the production and distribution of analysis on key foreign issues in various regions that informed U.S. policy and strategy on South Asia, Russia, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Previously, she was the U.S. Department of State’s special adviser for Balkan Affairs and a director in the National Security Council’s Russian and European Directorate at the White House, a role in which she briefed Presidents H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, their vice presidents, and national security advisers.

 Sanner is currently the Director of Geopolitics and Strategy at International Capital Strategies, where she shapes geopolitical and geofinancial assessments in support of corporate and investment clients.  In addition, Sanner is a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and the US Chamber Foundation, a distinguished fellow at the German Marshall Fund, and a contributing expert to The Cipher Brief. She also appears as a national security contributor on CNN, providing analysis on today’s top intelligence and geopolitical matters.  

 Widely recognized for her influence on national intelligence strategy and policy, Sanner is the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award (the highest honor bestowed on civil servants, awarded by President Biden), Distinguished Intelligence Service Medal, Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, two Superior Intelligence Service Medals, multiple CIA and DNI Director’s Awards, and several other accolades. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Sanner earned her B.A. in economics and international affairs from American University and was a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, earning an M.S. in national security strategy.