A career intelligence professional, Mr. Blasingame currently serves as Assistant Director of the Enterprise Threat-Mitigation Directorate (ETD) within the National Counterintelligence & Security Center at ODNI. Mr. Blasingame also concurrently serves as the Director of the National Insider Threat Task Force and leads the National Operations Security (OPSEC) Program.

 

In leading ETD, Mr. Blasingame ensures guidance and advocacy throughout the U.S. Government, and with public and private sector partners to promote active, integrated mission practices that counter all aspects of adversarial and insider threat to public health and safety, economic security, and national security.

 

James most recently served at ODNI as Deputy Assistant Director of National Intelligence for the President’s Daily Brief from 2017 to 2023. For his accomplishments with the PDB, James was awarded the Director’s Distinguished Service Award.

 

James began his public service career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1995 in the FBI’s San Diego Field Office, and was subsequently posted to FBI offices in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, working on counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and criminal matters. He later worked in the FBI’s Legal Attaché offices in Tel Aviv, Israel; Sana’a, Yemen; and Kabul, Afghanistan.

 

After his overseas postings, James returned to the FBI’s Field Office in Omaha, Nebraska, serving as a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force. In 2009, James was promoted to Supervisory Intelligence Analyst and served as the Intelligence Program Coordinator for the Omaha Field Office.

 

In 2011, James was selected as Chief of the FBI’s Intelligence Watch at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The following year, he was selected as Chief of Field Intelligence Management where he ensured corporate intelligence and HUMINT business practices were standardized across field offices.

 

In 2013, James was appointed as the first Deputy National Intelligence Manager for the Western Hemisphere—Homeland within ODNI. In this role, he was responsible for directing and overseeing programmatic operations for national intelligence issues related to the U.S. Homeland. For his accomplishments at ODNI, James was awarded the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal.

 

In 2015, James returned to the FBI as Chief of Global Intelligence—Asia, focusing on strategic intelligence and collection relative to state and non-state actors. In 2017, James returned to ODNI—where he is now a cadre officer.

 

James earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in criminology and psychology with distinction. He and his wife, Dr. Toby Schonfeld, who serves as the Executive Director of the Veterans Health Administration, National Center for Ethics in Health Care, reside in Maryland.