ANDERSON, Frank

Frank AndersonFrank Anderson is the Former Chief of the Near East Division, Directorate of Operations for the CIA. Mr. Anderson is President of the Middle East Policy Council, a non-profit, non-partisan, educational organization that seeks to contribute to American understanding of the political, economic and cultural issues that affect U.S. interests in the region.

Mr. Anderson’s involvement in the Middle East began 1n 1969 when he began studies at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute’s Arab Language and Middle East Area Studies School in Beirut, Lebanon.  Since then, he has lived in Lebanon, Libya Yemen and Morocco and worked extensively in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

His government service included a 27-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency from which he retired, as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division, in 1995.  Following his retirement, he spent 14 years providing information and advice, related to the Middle East, to American and international businesses and the U.S. and foreign governments.

Mr. Anderson’s writing on the region has been published in the journal Middle East Policy, the New York Times, Washington Times and Los Angeles Times.  He has appeared on all three broadcast television networks, CNN, Fox News, PBS, the BBC and Russian TV discussing regional issues.

Mr. Anderson was educated at the University of Illinois in Chicago, where he graduated with a BA in Political Science, as well as at the Foreign Service Institute.

Mr. Anderson lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  He is active in the lay leadership of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Darnestown, Maryland, twice serving as a vestry warden.  His four children, 12 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren are spread between New York, Washington, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Singapore and Bahrain.