By Lindsay Snider
Murphy News Service

Former CIA Officer Michael Hurley stood at the lectern in front of an atrium full of business people in suits, bright-eyed law students and military personnel for his recent talk on current terrorism threats in America.

Hurley, an Edina native, spoke last week at the University of Saint Thomas School of Law about his experiences serving the nation and his thoughts on the government’s counterterrorism efforts.

Hurley served during U.S. conflict interventions in Haiti, Bosnia and Kosovo, and was a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on the National Security Council staff.

Hurley spent 18 years out of a 25-year career in the CIA, when terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. His next seven years in the CIA involved searching for Osama bin Laden during tours of duty in Afghanistan, as director of counterterrorism policy for the 9/11 Commission and as a co-author of the 9/11 Commission Report. Today he is president of the consulting firm, Team 3i.

Among some of the top concerns for Hurley were ISIS extremists, attacks on the nation’s critical infrastructure and congressional reform.

“I think there’s some lessons we can learn today in a time of great political division,” Hurley said. “Bipartisanship should be the name of the game when it comes to terrorism.”

Reporter Lindsay Snider is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.