Clint Watts

Clint Watts is a national security analyst in the United States, known for his background in military service, federal law enforcement, and academic research addressing threats to modern democracy. Before becoming a consultant, Watts served as a U.S. Army infantry officer, an FBI special agent, executive officer of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, a consultant to the FBI's Counterterrorism Division and National Security Branch, and as a counterterrorism analyst supporting the U.S. Intelligence Community and U.S. Special Operations Command. As a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he served on the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Watts's work tracking terrorist foreign fighters contributed to early analysis of the rise of the Islamic State over al Qaeda. He led a team of researchers who tracked and modeled Russian influence operations via social media leading up to the U.S. presidential election, research that led to testimony before multiple U.S. Senate committees regarding Russia's information warfare campaigns against the United States and Western nations. Watts began studying Russian cyber operations after observing coordinated social media attacks following an article he wrote about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which led to further investigation of Russian social media propaganda.

Watts is the author of the book "Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians and Fake News." His book draws on his experience as an army officer and FBI counterterrorism agent, as well as his work tracking and engaging terrorists on social media, and examines the influence of social media in shaping public opinion and spreading disinformation. His writing has appeared in publications including New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, Politico, Lawfare, and War on the Rocks.

Watts holds the position of general manager at the Digital Threat Analysis Center at Microsoft, a role he assumed after Microsoft acquired his consulting firm, Miburo Solutions. He is also a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and at the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security at George Washington University, as well as a national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. His research and writing focus on terrorism, counterterrorism, social media influence, and Russian disinformation, providing analysis on the intersection of technology, geopolitics, and national security.