HOT SPOT BRIEFING - Latin America Security: Old Problems Defy Easy Solutions

On Thursday, November 20, 2025, the Strauss-Clements Intelligence Studies Project will host a public event, “HOT SPOT BRIEFING - Latin America Security: Old Problems Defy Easy Solutions" with Timothy Langford, former National Intelligence Officer for the Western Hemisphere and ISP Non-Resident Senior Fellow. The event is free and open to the public.

• Registration is RECOMMENDED. Registrants will receive any updates regarding the event.

• Garage parking is available for a fee at the Manor Garage and the San Jacinto Garage. Parking will not be validated.

BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Timothy Langford served over 30 years in a variety of senior positions in the U.S. intelligence and policy communities before retiring from federal service in 2020.  His final position was in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the National Intelligence Officer for the Western Hemisphere. In that post, he served as the U.S. Intelligence Community’s senior analyst responsible for leading strategic analysis in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada. Since his retirement, he has served as a consultant to a variety of U.S. Government and private sector organizations.

During his government service, Langford served in Washington D.C. and 15 years at U.S. embassies in Latin America and Europe. He is a widely recognized expert on Latin America and military and security issues, particularly Mexican politics, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and terrorism. He has extensive experience writing for, briefing, and interacting with top-level USG executive and legislative branch officials, as well as senior foreign government officials, including heads of state.

During his career, Langford gained extensive experience in intelligence fusion and collaboration. In the early 2000s, he established and led an innovative multi-U.S. agency fusion center to assist the Colombian Government defeat insurgent groups and combat narcotics traffickers. He subsequently established and led similar units in other Latin American countries.

Langford also has extensive experience working with the U.S. military, serving as the U.S. Intelligence Community’s senior representative to U.S. Southern Command in Miami, Florida from 1998 to 2002 and Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida from 2014 to 2016.

Langford graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1984 with a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies. He holds an undergraduate degree with majors in anthropology, Spanish, sociology, and Ibero-American Studies from Eastern Kentucky University. He speaks Spanish in addition to his native English.