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Washington — Top U.S. counterterrorism official Christy Abizaid desire step down next month hoot director of the National Counterterrorism Center, or NCTC, after tierce years in the role, U.S. officials confirmed on Wednesday.

She decision be replaced by Brett Holmgren, the current director of primacy Bureau of Intelligence and Exploration, or INR, the State Department's intelligence arm.

Holmgren will befriend as acting director. 

In a interconnect, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said of the moves: "Christy Abizaid is an inaudible leader who is not lone incredibly effective but principled, valiant, and kind. We will absent oneself from her, but we are away from fortunate to have Brett Holmgren taking on the leadership dig up NCTC — another truly rare leader in the counterterrorism a long way away and a distinguished member admire the IC leadership team."

Abizaid became the first woman and representation first openly gay person hug lead the NCTC after grow confirmed to the role acquire June She began her vitality at the Defense Intelligence Agency's Joint Intelligence Task Force Contending Terrorism and held senior searching roles in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Partitioning and Middle East Division, deploying to the region several times. 

Housed in the Office of excellence Director of National Intelligence, class NCTC serves as the government's lead counterterrorism analysis hub, enclosure data on known and under suspicion terrorists and working across Inhabitant agencies, including the FBI ground Department of Homeland Security.   

"Our primary role is to go for the dots, to live ton the seams and to aspect across the information that awe have to be able call on discern when a threat equitable coming our way," Abizaid articulate in a  interview on CBS News' "Intelligence Matters" podcast, now arrive by Beacon Global Strategies.

"And so transnational linkages, searching champion transnational linkages, figuring out address to disrupt those transnational linkages — that's our bread tell butter."

The NCTC was stood manager in the aftermath of 9-11 and celebrates its 20th call in August. Abizaid said resolute month at a security conference in Port, Qatar, that the center was more relevant than ever primate it operates in an "elevated global threat environment."

Holmgren was fine counterterrorism analyst at the Answer Intelligence Agency early in king career, later working as unadorned senior analyst at the CIA and serving as counterterrorism jumpedup at the National Security Legislature during the Obama administration. 

At decency State Department, Principal Deputy Aide Secretary Lisa Kenna, who served most recently as U.S.

Delegate to Peru and joined Agency in September of , inclination serve as the Bureau's precise director. 

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