Joe Reeder

Joe Reeder is a Senior Advisor with The Soufan Group. He is a seasoned intelligence officer and counterterrorism expert with more than 20 years of experience across the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the U.S. Army.

Prior to joining The Soufan Group, Joe served at the CIA from 2012 to 2025 within the Counterterrorism Mission Center, where he led and supported some of the most high-profile and complex counterterrorism operations in the Middle East and West Africa. During this period, he completed four overseas assignments in the Middle East. In recognition of his achievements, Joe was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal by the Director of the CIA in 2020, among numerous other accolades. In addition to his operational responsibilities, he managed multinational teams and multi-million-dollar programs and advised senior U.S. policymakers and foreign government officials on high-stakes intelligence and national security strategies.

From 2010 to 2012, Joe worked in the private sector as an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he served at the DIA as an advisor to the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center (DCHC). During this time, he was also selected as a HUMINT subject matter expert for DIA’s Libya Issue Management Team, which was established following the fall of the Libyan regime in 2011.

Joe began his career in 2005 with the U.S. Army, serving as a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Collector and interrogator. His assignments included tours in Germany, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and Iraq. From 2009 to 2010, he served with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), where he conducted more than 1,000 interrogations of al-Qa’ida in Iraq leaders. Intelligence derived from these interrogations directly supported numerous counterterrorism operations, for which Joe was awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

Joe holds a Master’s degree in Global Security Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor’s degree in History and Psychology from Southern Wesleyan University. He brings deep expertise in counterterrorism operations, interrogation, Middle East security, and leadership in high-pressure environments.