Vicki Divoll is a lawyer and national security expert based in Washington D.C. Until 2012, Divoll taught United States Government and Constitutional Development at the United States Naval Academy.
Prior to her work in academia, Divoll served as the General Counsel (2001-2003) and Minority Counsel (2000-2001) for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. During her time with the committee, Divoll was responsible for providing oversight of operational and policy issues in electronic surveillance, counterintelligence, covert action, and international terrorism. She worked on developing policy and drafting public law provisions, such as amendments to the National Surveillance Act of 1947 and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. Divoll was also responsible for drafting and shepherding Title IX of the Patriot Act, which established criteria for the sharing of intelligence information among government agencies following 9/11.
Before working for the Senate, Divoll was Assistant General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency, where she served under John Deutch and George Tenet as deputy legal advisor to the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center. While there, she provided guidance on a variety of issues, including criminal law, human rights, overseas covert operations, and interaction among U.S. intelligence agencies.
Divoll has written extensively on matters of intelligence policy and national security for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. She has a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College and a J.D. from University of Virginia, and has completed fellowships at the United States Naval Academy’s Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership, and the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.
