Fidel Cortes has served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since 2010. Prior to his selection as a Hoover Institution national security affairs fellow for the academic year 2024–25, Cortes covered Asian and Middle Eastern defense and security issues as a military analyst.
What did you know about Hoover before you applied to become an NSAF?
I grew up and did my undergraduate studies in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I was aware of Hoover’s reputation as a leader in scholarship and policy analysis.
Aside from reconnecting and recharging with your loved ones, what are you most looking forward to doing with your year as an NSAF?
I am looking forward to hearing the perspectives of the scholars and thought leaders who are at Hoover or pass through Palo Alto. I am always looking to broadening my knowledge and staying up-to-date on current ideas.
Have you met with your student mentees yet? What is the most interesting question they have asked you?
I have met with my mentees. The most interesting question they have asked is about my time as a game show contestant.
In your view what is the biggest misconception the civilian public has about life in the military (or national security services)?
The public image of the US Intelligence Community (IC) is largely shaped by popular culture and what Dr. Amy Zegart has dubbed “spytainment.” The general public largely does not understand what the CIA and IC actually do and where they fit into the policy-making process. We collect, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence to the president and senior US government policymakers so they can make informed national security decisions.
Which Hoover fellow are you most looking forward to meeting/working with? Why?
I’m definitely grateful for the opportunities I’ve had listening to H.R. McMaster speak and interact with him. As a former graduate student in History, I share his view of the importance of studying of history and respecting its lessons as we think through how we confront our current challenges.
What is your capstone/focus project for the year going to be?
I am looking at how organizations in the past have adopted and integrated new innovations. Looking at past cases of how organizations used innovations could better inform contemporary efforts to leverage emerging technologies—such as Artificial Intelligence—in ways that enhance their effectiveness
What are you hoping to bring back to your service from your year at Hoover?
I would like to return to DC better informed on the latest scholarship and thinking on major challenges of today, such as great power competition and emerging technologies.
What is America’s principal national security challenge today in your view? Why?
Climate change is making it more difficult for people to live in areas experiencing ever increasing average temperatures, extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and arable farmland. As competition for scarce resources worsens, the effects will ripple across the planet, undermining global stability, and increase the pressures on the US national security enterprise.
