Gen. Hayden to Speak at Westmont Breakfast
Gen. Michael Hayden, an expert on cybersecurity and a retired director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, will speak at the 13th annual Westmont President’s Breakfast on Friday, Feb. 9, from 7-9 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom of Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort. Tickets cost $125 per person and go on sale Friday, Jan. 12, at 9 a.m. on the Westmont website. Seating is limited, and tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
An expert on domestic and foreign affairs, Hayden served as the country’s first principal deputy director of national intelligence. The retired four-star Air Force general was also the nation’s highest-ranking military intelligence officer. His recent memoir, “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror,” was a New York Times best-seller and was chosen for the top 100 most notable books of 2016.
A principal at the Chertoff Group, Hayden also serves as a distinguished visiting professor at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government and as the inaugural Humanitas visiting professor in intelligence studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. With expertise on intelligence matters such as cybersecurity, government surveillance and geopolitics, Hayden makes frequent appearances on major news outlets and in top publications. He was featured in the HBO documentary “Manhunt,” which looked at espionage through the eyes of the insiders who led the secret war against Osama bin Laden, and in Showtime’s “The Spymasters,” which examined the directors of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Hayden received the first Helms Award from the CIA Officers’ Memorial Foundation and accepted the 29th annual William Oliver Baker Award from the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) in 2013.
During his military career, he served as commander of the Air Intelligence Agency and director of the Joint Command and Control Warfare Center and in senior staff positions at the Pentagon, U.S. European Command, the National Security Council, and the U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria. General Hayden was also the deputy chief of staff for the United Nations Command and U.S. Forces in South Korea.
The Westmont Foundation, local businesses and individuals sponsor the President’s Breakfast to promote discussion of significant issues in the community. Bank of the West is the lead sponsor this year, and Gold Sponsors include Canterbury Consulting, Davies, David and Anna Grotenhuis, Santa Barbara Capital, Hub International of California, Carl and Jo Lindros, Santa Barbara Securities, MATT Construction, Lindsay and Laurie Parton, Peter and Monique Thorrington, and V3, with special thanks to Union Bank and the Mosher Foundation. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Steve Baker, Westmont associate vice president for advancement, at (805) 565-7156.