Intelligence professional Philip Mudd will be in Oxford today to promote his new book, “Takedown,” and talk to students involved in The University of Mississippi’s intelligence and security studies program.
Mudd is the former deputy director of national security for the FBI as well as the former deputy director of the Counterterrorist Center for the CIA. Mudd also worked on issues in the Middle East at the White House National Security Council in 2001. He left after Sept. 11 to join a small diplomatic team that helped create a new government for Afghanistan and played a role in the capture of Osama Bin Laden.
Carl Jensen, associate professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, said he is always excited when people like Philip Mudd come to speak to his classes. Jensen said Mudd has a unique position in the intelligence world because he is involved with both the CIA and the FBI.
“It’s really important for our students to really understand as many perspectives as they possibly can,” Jensen said.
According to Jensen, professionals in the intelligence field have to make sense of large amounts of information, which is why he brings in people with years of experience like Mudd.
“Well, today’s haystacks are exponentially larger than they’ve ever been,” Jensen said.
Mudd said he is enthusiastic about lecturing students who are involved in the ISS program because he will be going over case studies from Iraq and then applying those techniques to the problems in Syria.
Mudd said he wants Ole Miss students involved in the intelligence community to remember that hard work is key when pursuing any career. He said you need to constantly be learning something, because if you’re not learning, you’re forgetting.
“Don’t ever think you can’t get there,” Mudd said. “If you don’t work as hard as everyone else you’ll get your ass kicked.”
Mudd said he chose to come to Oxford for multiple reasons. He knew people who had been in Oxford and really enjoyed themselves. A professor in the intelligence department asked him to come speak to a class, and it also gave him the opportunity to do a book signing at Square Books.
“It is an honor to sign there,” Mudd said. “I would sign toilet paper in that store if they wanted me to.”
Mudd said he was very impressed with the curriculum ISS has to offer here at Ole Miss, and everyone in the department with whom he has dealt has been very courteous.
Mudd said he believes it is very important for people like him with nearly 30 years of experience to speak with students in that field.
“It’s my responsibility to talk to students,” Mudd said.
Austin Dorris, a sophomore international studies major in Chinese and a participant in the ISS program, said he applauds the department for getting people like Mudd to speak to students.
“It’s a really great thing,” Dorris said. “The intelligence community is constantly changing, so we get people’s input from their experience 10, 20 years ago and what their outlook is now.”
Mudd said his book is worth reading if one is interested in understanding how Washington, D.C., works, especially with regard to intelligence. Mudd’s book signing will take place at 1 p.m. today at Square Books.
