Ed is the founder of the Institute for the Study of States of Exception (ISSE), Chair of ISSE’s Governing Board, and is currently serving as acting Executive Director during ISSE's growth stage. He retired from the U.S. government in 2024 after 24 years in service in national security assignments overseas and in Washington, DC, with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Since retiring from the Federal government, Ed has been serving as a Strategic Advisor for a range of technology and defense technology companies, and with several other nonprofits and think tanks including Volunteers for Ukraine (Board of Directors) and EPIS (Board of Advisors). In addition to this work, Ed is also known for his vigorous advocacy for Ukraine in their defense against Russia’s unlawful invasion, and has spoken publicly on this subject in numerous settings, including on podcasts and at conference panels. He is a member of the Atlantic Council’s Counterterrorism Group, and a member of the Cipher Brief’s Senior Expert cadre. Ed has also guest lectured or spoken at Cornell University, Georgetown University, George Washington University, King’s College London, and the State University of New York at Binghamton, on emergency powers, intelligence, law, and leadership topics.
While serving at CIA for over two decades, Ed was a proven leader with a track record of providing tailored solutions for complex national security challenges in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. Over the course of his career, Ed served five of his seven formal overseas assignments (one to three year tours) in three countries in some form of armed conflict, and served extensive shorter duration trips cumulatively amounting to two years of service in a fourth. Ed served as a Chief of Station (COS) in two of his overseas assignments, and as a Chief of Base (COB) in three others, with extensive time as Acting COS or Acting COB across four other locations as requirements arose. Ed is also a recipient of the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal (2012) and the Director of National Intelligence’s Intelligence Award (2012), among several other accolades. He is recognized for his ability to lead difficult missions and programs, for delivering unbiased risk analysis and consistent results-oriented strategy execution in highly ambiguous situations, and in particular for doing so in more fragile political environments.
Immediately prior to serving in his Federal career, Ed clerked from 1999-2000 for the Hon. Judith Yaskin, P.J.Cv., in the New Jersey Superior Court’s Civil Division, in Trenton, New Jersey. Prior to attending law school, Ed also served for two years from 1994-1996 within the Mayor’s Office of Community Services in Philadelphia, PA, working across several high impact community-oriented educational and leadership development programs.
In 2020, Ed earned an M.A. (Merit) in Continental Philosophy from Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. In 1999 and 2000, Ed earned a J.D. and LL.M. (Taxation), respectively, from Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. He also earned a B.A., magna cum laude, in Philosophy from La Salle University in Philadelphia in 1994. Ed is passionate about philosophy and has been for decades.
Ed is a nonconformist at heart, and is passionate about public service, demonstrated by his 27 years of total Federal, State, and Municipal-level assignments, prior to the establishment of ISSE. He is also just as committed regarding his continued philosophical explorations. ISSE, as such, represents an intersection point, and an amalgamation of sorts, of all of these experiences, both professional and intellectual.
Ed lives in Washington, DC, and is a proud cat dad of two furry boys, Gizmo and Yoda, brothers from the same litter who both have passports and love to travel.
