Madison Committee on Foreign Relations

12 November 2009

Mike German

Mike German is Policy Counsel on National Security, Immigration and Privacy, American Civil Liberties Union

Mike German is a recognized expert in terrorist group behavior, counter-terrorist operations, and right-wing extremism. The American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office appointed him as Policy Counsel on National Security, Immigration and Privacy in 2006.

Mike served for sixteen years as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is one of the few agents credited with actually having prevented acts of terrorism before it became the FBI's number one priority. After leaving the FBI, German formed Hotei Consulting, where he urged Congress to adopt better intelligence policies in the wake of 9/11. He was also as an adjunct professor at the National Defense University School for National Security Executive Education.

In the early 1990s, Mike successfully infiltrated white supremacist groups in Los Angeles that were engaged in a bombing campaign against racial minorities and stockpiling weapons in preparation for a race war. In the late 1990's, after the Oklahoma City bombing, he again went undercover against right-wing militia groups that were conspiring to harm federal agents. Both cases disrupted multiple terrorist cells, leading to criminal convictions that prevented terrorist acts. Mike's undercover work gave him unique insights into the way terrorist groups organize, recruit and operate.

Mike has a Bachelor's degree in philosophy from Wake Forest University and a Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law. Mike's last assignment before leaving the FBI in June of 2004 was as a counter-terrorism instructor at the FBI National Academy.

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