Ronald Anthony Marks is a former senior CIA official and Capitol Hill Staffer. He is an advocate for the use of Open Source Intelligence within the US Intelligence Community and an expert on Homeland Security intelligence.

Personal

Marks was born in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 to Nathan and Margaret Marks. He was raised in Gresham

Gresham, Oregon

- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 90,205 people, 33,327 households, and 22,695 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,071.6 people per square mile . There were 35,309 housing units at an average density of 1,593.8 per square mile...

. He graduated from Gresham High School

Gresham High School (Oregon)

-Academics:Gresham High is an official International Baccalaureate school offering the IB Diploma Program.In 2008, 81% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma. Of 450 students, 366 graduated, 45 dropped out, 15 received a modified diploma, and 24 are still in high school.-State...

 in 1974.
Marks received his Bachelors in Business Administration and Economics with honors from Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & Clark College is a private institution of higher learning located in Portland, Oregon. Made up of an undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, a School of Law, and a Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Lewis & Clark is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges with athletic...

 in 1978. Marks went on to the study at the Northwestern School of Law (1978-79) and took his Masters in Economics at the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

 in 1982.
He lives with his wife of 25 years in McLean, Virginia

McLean, Virginia

McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....

.

Career

Starting in 1983, Marks spent 16 years with the CIA. During that time he occupied a number of increasingly senior positions including two years (1995-96) as Intelligence Counsel to former U.S. Senator Bob Dole

Bob Dole

Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...

 and U.S. Senator Trent Lott

Trent Lott

Chester Trent Lott, Sr. , is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and has served in numerous leadership positions in the House of Representatives and the Senate....

.

From 2005-10, Marks served as Senior Vice President and Director of Washington, D.C. operations for Oxford Analytica

Oxford Analytica

Oxford Analytica is an international consulting firm providing strategic analysis of world events. It was founded in 1975 by David Young, an American employee of the National Security Council during the Nixon administration and one of the four in the Watergate scandal.Clients of Oxford Analytica...

 http://www.oxan.com/, a leading international risk analysis firm focused on geopolitics and economics, based in Oxford, U.K. and a leading purveyor of open source intelligence. He is currently Senior Director, National Security Group, Oracle Corporation.

Marks has been a Senior Fellow at the George Washington University

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

's Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) since 2005 and
an Adjunct Professor for Intelligence and National Security at the National Defense University

National Defense University

The National Defense University is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level training, education, and the development of national security strategy. It is chartered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with Navy Vice Admiral...

's College of International Security Affairs. Since 1999, Marks has also been a member of the Senior Steering Committee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Transnational Threats Project focusing on the application of open source intelligence against international organized crime and Islamic terrorism

In February 2008, Marks testified before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs advocating Intelligence Community management reform and strengthened oversight in light of an increasingly complex and bureaucratic structure.

Marks has also written on evolving national security and intelligence issues for the academic journals Washington Quarterly, "The Uses and Limits of U.S. Intelligence" (Winter 2002) and the Cambridge University International Review, "Defining America's Brave New World" (July 2002).

Additionally, Marks also wrote a four part series of editorials in late 2004-05 for the Washington Times focusing on U.S. intelligence reform, looking at implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 and WMD Commissions -- such as the creation of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the founding of a U.S. Intelligence Community Open Source Center

Open Source Center

The Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center is a United States government intelligence center that provides analysis of open source materials, including gray literature, through OSC's headquarters and overseas bureaus...

.

Since 2009, Mr. Marks has served as a National Security commentator for the National Journal

National Journal

National Journal is a nonpartisan American weekly magazine that reports on the current political environment and emerging political and policy trends. National Journal was first published in 1969. Times Mirror owned the magazine from 1986 to 1997, when it was purchased by David G. Bradley...

.com's National Security Blog. He has also been a National Security Commentator for the Fox News Channel

Fox News Channel

Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...

 since 2003. Marks has been featured commenting on intelligence related issues on C-SPAN

C-SPAN

C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...

’s Washington Journal

Washington Journal

Washington Journal is an American television series on the C-SPAN network in the format of a political call-in and interview program. The program features elected officials, government administrators and journalists as guests, answering questions from the hosts and from members of the general...

, NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

 and Public Radio International

Public Radio International

Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...

. Marks has also provided analytical insights since 2001 on Homeland and National Security issues to The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...

, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, The National Journal, Government Executive, and the Newhouse Newspapers Syndicate.

Open Source Intelligence

In June 2005, Marks founded The Open Source Intelligence Forum. http://www.osif.us/ As its current director, the group of former Federal government and private sector executives engages in a series of forums advocating more effective exploitation of open source intelligence

Open source intelligence

Open-source intelligence is a form of intelligence collection management that involves finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence...

 (OSINT) by the U.S. Intelligence and National Security Communities. In 2007-08, Marks was selected by the Director of National Intelligence's Open Source office to plan and participate in the first DNI Open Source Conference.

Authored Books

In January 2011, Marks released a book focusing on the challenges and legalities of U.S. Domestic Intelligence collection. Entitled "Spying in America in the Post 9/11 World: Domestic Threat and the Need for Change," published by Praeger Publishing  http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?id=52471, Marks lays out the concerns Americans should have over expanding intelligence gathering within the U.S. in response to an imminent threat and the public's lack of oversight over the government agencies involved in it.

Affiliations

Marks is a member of the Cosmos Club

Cosmos Club

The Cosmos Club is a private social club in Washington, D.C., founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in...

. He is also a member of the International Institute for Strategics Studies (IISS), an international think tank based in London, U.K.