Michele Rigby Assad | Former Intelligence officer in the CIA, International Security Consultant, Author of Breaking Cover and Keynote Speaker

Michele Rigby Assad

Former Intelligence officer in the CIA, International Security Consultant, Author of Breaking Cover and Keynote Speaker

Fee Range
$20,000
Travels From
Merritt Island (Near Orlando), FL

Michele Rigby Assad
Biography

Michele Rigby Assad began her career in the government relations department of an international relief and development organization in Washington, DC, in 1995. She joined the CIA in January 2002 to work as an intelligence officer in the Directorate of Operations, the covert arm of the agency. Specializing in counterterrorism and counterintelligence issues, Michele worked in Iraq and other secret Middle Eastern locations.

To date, Michele has lived in six countries in the Near East region and traveled to more than forty-five others. After a decade of government service, Michele left the undercover life to serve as a public speaker, author, trainer, and international security consultant focused on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

Her book, Breaking Cover: My Secret Life in the CIA and What It Taught Me about What's Worth Fighting For, published by Tyndale Momentum, was released February 2018 and is currently in production to be made into a major motion picture.

She and her husband, Joseph, live in Florida. Michele holds a master's degree in contemporary Arab studies from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and a political science degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Michele credits student-led mission trips to Egypt, Russia, and Ukraine and a study abroad program in Egypt, Israel, and the West Bank as being the catalysts for her passion for foreign cultures and international travel. The year she spent studying in the Middle East changed the course of her life, taking her from rural central Florida to the front lines of the war on terror.

Michele is motivated to use her unique platform to educate and inspire, showing how critical courage is to live a life of impact and purpose. Michele writes about her many passions at www.michelerigbyassad.com, where she features articles on counterterrorism, personal security, the Middle East, faith, and inspiration. Connect with her there, as well as on Facebook (Michele Rigby Assad) and LinkedIn.

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Michele Rigby Assad
Featured Keynote Programs

God's Looking for the Ordinary

This is a presentation on Breaking Cover in which Michele discusses how ordinary people can do extraordinary things when their faith in God is greater than their fear. From small town Central FL, to the frontlines of the war on terror, Michele shows how critical it is to trust God more than you trust yourself. When you place your faith fully in him, He'll take you to places you didn't even know existed.

Defying ISIS

The story of how a small group of committed Christians heeded the voice of God, and in months saved persecuted Christians from ISIS in Northern Iraq. Michele’s and her husband, Joseph’s counterterrorism, counterintelligence and operational skills honed in the CIA were put to use in the service of others after they left their 10 year careers in the agency. This event was covered by ABC’s 20/20 in an hour long special about the evacuation of 149 people from Northern Iraq to Slovakia. (December 2015)

Christian Persecution and the Roots of Terrorism

This is about Michele’s husband’s life story of being a persecuted Christian in the Middle East and how God is now using that experience to rescue persecuted Christians fleeing ISIS in Iraq and Syria. (Her husband, Joseph has an amazing story of how God brought him out of a bad situation.  He grew up in Assiout, which at that time, was the center of Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East. The roots of al-Qa’ida emerged from Assiout, and many of Joseph’s classmates were terrorists. Talk about bullying in school—that’s a whole other kind of bullying!) 

The Courage to Find Your Calling

Michele uses the story of how she found and figured out her calling to help others do the same. How do you determine which direction to move in? How do you make decisions about your future? These are the things no one tells you about finding your way in life—i.e. the blueprints for God’s calling on your life are in your DNA. God made you a specific way to carry out very specific purposes in your life.  We are tools and each tool is made for specific tasks. And He will give us exactly what we need to make decisions, even if it’s just the next step and not the entire 5-year plan laid out in front of us.

Michele Rigby Assad
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