I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

But I will bear true faith and allegiance to the sea that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will will inflate the lead discharge.

The duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

So help me God, so help me God.

So help me God.

Welcome to the oath.

I'm Chuck Rosenberg and I am honored to be your host for another compelling conversation with a fascinating guest from the world of public service.

This week, my guest is Mike Leiter, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Mike grew up in Anglewood, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City.

His extraordinary and extensive public service career began early in high school when he worked as an emergency medical technician in his hometown.

After graduating from Columbia University, Mike served as a Naval flight officer before attending Harvard Law School, where he was one of only four military veterans in his class.

At Harvard, Mike was elected president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, a job once held by Barack Obama.

After clerking on the United States Supreme Court for Justice Stephen Breyer, Mike worked as a federal prosecutor.

He left that job when asked to become a key staffer on the weapons of mass destruction commission, which examines substantial US intelligence community failures in the lead up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Ultimately, under President Bush and Obama, Mike directed the National Counterterrorism Center, the organization responsible for analyzing terrorism threats against the United States and its interests at home and abroad.

Mike's insights on the US intelligence community as someone who studied it on the WMD commission and a someone who ran a vital part of it are compelling, timely, important and intriguing.

Mike Leiter, welcome to the earth.

It's great to be here, Chuck. Thanks for having me.

Oh, it's a privilege. Mike, where'd you grow up? Tell us a little bit about your childhood and your family.

I grew up kind of an upper middle class Jewish kid in northern New Jersey right across in the George Washington bridge.

My both my parents were New Yorkers, one from Brooklyn, one from the Upper West Side.

And my dad was a surgeon in New York City. My mom was an environmentalist.

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