J. William Leonard

Guest Author

Bill Leonard (@JBillLeonard) recently retired after nine years as the Chief Operating Officer of the National Endowment for Democracy.  Prior to that he served for 34 years in the Federal government.  As the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office from 2002-2008, he was responsible for policy oversight of the Executive branch-wide national security information classification system.  Before that appointment, Mr. Leonard served in the Department of Defense to include as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Security and Information Operations) from 2000-2002.  In 2002, the President conferred upon him the rank of Meritorious Executive.  Mr. Leonard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from St. John’s University in New York City and a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University. He is also on LinkedIn.