Alex Finley is a former officer of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, where she served in West Africa and Europe. She has experience working with foreign liaison and military partners, and received an award for her outstanding contributions to the counterterrorism mission.

Before joining the CIA, Alex was a journalist, covering Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the Department of Energy. She reported on issues related to national security, intelligence, and homeland security.

Alex currently works as an adjunct professor, teaching about terrorism and disinformation / covert influence. Her writing has appeared in Slate, Reductress, Funny or Die, POLITICO, The Center for Public Integrity, and other publications. She has spoken to the BBC, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CBC’s The National, Sirius XM’s Yahoo! Politics, France24, The Cipher Brief, the Spy Museum’s SpyCast, and numerous other media outlets. She is the author of Victor in the Rubble, a satire about the CIA and the War on Terror, and Victor in the Jungle, a satire about the pitfalls of populism. Her third novel is slated to be published in 2022.