Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis Charles E. Allen

Charles Allen is the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Chief Intelligence Officer, reporting directly to Secretary Chertoff. In this role, he is responsible for integrating and managing DHS intelligence programs, coordinating these activities with the Intelligence Community, and providing guidance on homeland security specific issues.

Prior to joining the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Allen served as the Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Collection from June 1998 until September 2005. In this capacity, he was responsible for Intelligence Community collection management and reported to the Director of Central Intelligence on the integration of collection against priority intelligence requirements. Mr. Allen also chaired the National Intelligence Collection Board, which ensured that collection was integrated and coordinated across the Intelligence Community.

A native of North Carolina, Mr. Allen joined the CIA in 1958, holding a variety of positions of increasing responsibility both in analytic and managerial capacities. From 1974-1977, he served overseas in an intelligence liaison capacity and from 1977-1980 held management positions in the Directorate of Intelligence. From 1980 to November 1982, he served as a program manager of a major classified project, reporting to DDCI's Frank Carlucci, Bobby Ray Inman, and John McMahon, respectively.

In December 1982, Mr. Allen was detailed to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense, where he held a senior position in strategic mobilization planning. In 1985, Director William Casey asked Mr. Allen to return to CIA in the capacity of a National Intelligence Officer (NIO) for Counterterrorism. In February 1986, he also was appointed Chief of Intelligence in CIA's newly established Counterterrorist Center. As NIO for Counterterrorism, he represented the DCI in a number of interagency committees, including chairing the Interagency Intelligence Committee on Terrorism, and serving as a member of the Interdepartmental Group on Terrorism (IG/T) and the National Security Council’s Terrorist Incident Working Group. Following this assignment, Mr. Allen served as the NIO for Warning from 1988 to 1994. In this capacity, he was the principal adviser to the DCI on national-level warning intelligence and chaired the Intelligence Community's Warning Committee.

Mr. Allen’s service to the country has been recognized with numerous awards, including the National Intelligence Medal for Achievement in 1983 by DCI Casey and the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service in 1986 by President Reagan; the CIA Commendation Medal in 1991 for provision of warning intelligence in Desert Shield/Desert Storm; the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA’s highest and most coveted award, by CIA Director Porter Goss and the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal from Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte in October 2005; the CIA’s Trailblazer Award from Director Michael Hayden in September 2007; and the Secretary’s Gold Medal, the Department of Homeland Security’s top award, by Secretary Michael Chertoff in December 2007.  In 2002, the Intelligence and National Security Alliance honored Mr. Allen its William Oliver Baker Award.

Mr. Allen holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina and did graduate studies from Auburn University. He is also a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air War College.