Cohen

Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency David S. Cohen ’85 will speak on “The Future of the CIA” as Cornell’s 2015 LaFeber-Silbey Endowment Lecturer in History, sponsored by the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The lecture - set for Thursday, Sept. 17, at 4:30 p.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall’s Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium - is free, and the public is invited.

From 2011 until 2015, Cohen was the undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. He was the driving force behind the U.S. Treasury Department’s increasingly sophisticated use of financial warfare against terrorists and the application of financial and trade sanctions against nations. He also led the department’s efforts to combat money laundering and financial crime.

President Obama recently tapped Cohen to become the No. 2 person at the CIA. He is tasked with overseeing historical changes at the agency so it can more effectively deal with its top priorities.

The LaFeber-Silbey Endowment in History Lecture is given by speakers, often Cornell alumni, who are active in public life or policymaking. Several alumni underwrite this series, named for two emeritus professors, Walter LaFeber and Joel Silbey, to expose undergraduates to distinguished figures with experience in public life, journalism or academia.