Paul R. Pillar is a 28-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a visiting professor at Georgetown University for security studies and a member of the Center for Peace and Security Studies.Prior to joining the CIA, Pillar served as a U.S. Army officer in Vietnam. He earned an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College, and received the B.Phil from Oxford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University.

He became chief of analysis at the Agency's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) in 1993. By 1997 he was the Center's deputy director. But in summer 1999 he suffered a clash of styles with the new director, Cofer Black. Soon after, Pillar left the Center.

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