Martha Neff Kessler honored by Denison University with Alumni Citation

GRANVILLE, OH (07/09/2012)(readMedia)-- Martha Neff Kessler, of Washington D.C., a 1967 graduate of Denison University, was honored by her alma mater with an Alumni Citation at a ceremony during the college's annual Reunion Weekend convocation on Friday, June 8. The Citation is the highest honor Denison bestows upon its most distinguished alumni, recognizing outstanding contributions to the professional, civic, business or religious life of the nation and the advancement of the college.

In awarding the Citation, Denison President Dale T. Knobel said, "We honor Martha Neff Kessler '67, for her tireless work on behalf of the processes of peace and security in this nation and the world."

Kessler currently serves as an ombudsman for the Department of Homeland Security, where she also has served as a consultant on intelligence analysis. She consults on Middle East and foreign intelligence issues, teaches courses on writing and briefing key U.S. policymakers, analytic techniques, and Islam.

An intelligence officer with the CIA from 1970 to 2000, Kessler specialized in the Middle East, South Asia and terrorism. She held positions throughout the Directorate of Intelligence and served three times on the National Intelligence Council as the CIA's point person on the Middle East. For six years, she headed the Arab-Israeli Division and was liaison with U.S. peace negotiators throughout the Madrid peace process. Kessler was a fellow at the National Defense University's War College where she published "Syria: A Fragile Mosaic of Power."

After the events of 9/11, Kessler was called back into service with the CIA and spent 10 more years there, retiring for a second time in 2010. Over the past decade, she has managed special projects for the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI. Kessler is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the board of the Middle East Policy Council.

Kessler was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution where she contributed to the Middle Foreign Policy Journal. During her career, she was awarded the CIA's Medal of Distinguished Service and the National Intelligence Community's Medal of Achievement. She received numerous Outstanding Performance Awards during crises in Lebanon, the Gulf War and the Iraq war, and was also honored for her authorship of "National Intelligence Estimates" on the rise of religious extremism.

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement, and the cultivation of independent thinking.