Biography - Matthew I Degn

Professor Degn is the Director of the Intelligence Studies Program at American Military University, where he manages nearly 50 professors, and content for the more than three dozen Intelligence related courses. He also teaches classes on Counter-Terrorism, Introduction to Intelligence, and Terrorism/ U.S. National Security. He has a master’s degree in National Security Studies and Terrorism Studies, and is a graduate from the United Nations Institute for Training & Research. Moreover, Professor Degn has extensive experience in the Middle East, serving most recently as a Senior Intelligence/Policy Adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior in Baghdad . While there, he wrote policy defining the duties of various intelligence organizations in the fight against terrorism, cross-border insurgency, and domestic violent militias. Furthermore, he was the senior civilian advisor in the creation of the Iraqi Counter-terrorism Directorate, mentored Iraqi senior government intelligence officials at the Deputy Minister level, and witnessed the inner workings of the Iraqi government at the highest levels. His expertise and analysis has been quoted in the Washington Post, London Times, NPR, ABC Nightly News, and other worldwide media outlets.

Professor Degn has also been involved in the screening and interrogation process within Iraq. He served at Abu Ghraib prison, and was among the last Americans in the prison facility before its closing. He witnessed the harmful effects the infamous prison scandal had on U.S. foreign policy and the interrogation process. While in different prison facilities he has interviewed members of Al Qaida, Jaysh-al-Mahdi (Mahdi Army), Badr Corps, Iranian, Syrian, and Saudi insurgents, and members of other terrorist entities from Iraq and the surrounding region. Moreover, he has experience as a senior counter-terrorism analyst in Washington D.C. and in the military. Professor Degn is the author of numerous essays and other writings with subjects ranging from foreign policy and violent militias, to terrorist methodologies, private security companies in war, and the use of intelligence within the Middle East.

Matthew Degn enjoys listening to Mozart, gardening, hiking, and discussing the nuances of democracy, government, and foreign affairs. He also has a passion for Classical literature, especially the writings of Plutarch, Herodotus, and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

 
 

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