Mark Stout

Mark Stout was the Historian and Curator at the International Spy Museum from 2010-2013. Presently he is the Director of the MA in Global Security Studies for Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. He is a former intelligence officer, having served with the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Central Intelligence Agency. He was also the founding President of the North American Society for Intelligence History. Dr. Stout is the co-author or co-editor of several books, most recently Spy Chiefs: Intelligence Leaders in the United States and United Kingdom (Georgetown University Press, 2017) He is also series co-editor of the Studies in Intelligence History series from Georgetown University Press. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Leeds.

Presentation Topics

American Spy Chiefs

In the public imagination, spy chiefs, the heads of American intelligence agencies, are often portrayed as immensely powerful individuals who are secretly lurking in the shadows to manipulate the world to be not as it seems. But has this been true in the United States? And what does it take to be an effective spy chief?

Intelligence and American Presidents

These days, the fraught relationship between the President and the US Intelligence Community is often in the news. But no American president since World War II has had stress-free dealings with intelligence. Learn about the love-hate relationships between some of our most important modern Presidents and their intelligence agencies.

American Intelligence during World War I: On the Home Front and on the Battlefield

In the United States, World War I is often a forgotten war but it was a tremendously important time in American intelligence. Important new technologies such as aerial reconnaissance and signals intelligence and an intense focus on domestic security and counterintelligence helped win the war and shape American intelligence to this very day.

Mark Stout is available to speak at your event virtually or in-person. Contact our sales team for more information.

The Spy Museum does not endorse, approve, or support the opinions stated by the speakers. Statements made by presenters do not represent the position or opinion of the International Spy Museum.