John Brennan Fast Facts

Here is a look at the life of John Brennan, former director of the CIA.

Personal: Birth date: September 22, 1955

Birth place: North Bergen, New Jersey

Birth name: John Owen Brennan

Father: Owen Brennan

Mother: Dorothy Brennan

Marriage: Kathy (Pokluda) Brennan

Children: Kyle; Kelly; Jaclyn

Education: Fordham University, B.A., 1977; University of Texas at Austin, Masters in Government, 1980

Other Facts: Studied at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, during college.

Speaks Arabic.

Was considered a shoo-in for the position of CIA director after President Barack Obama's election in November 2008. Brennan dropped out of the running for the job after being criticized for supporting the enhanced terrorist interrogation techniques in use since September 11, 2001.

Timeline: 1980 - Brennan joins the CIA's Directorate of Operations as a Career Trainee.

1981 - Joins the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence.

1982-1984 - Political officer at the US Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

1984-1989 - Works in the Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis in the Directorate of Intelligence.

1990-1992 - In charge of terrorism analysis in the Director of Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center.

1994-1995 - CIA's daily intelligence briefer at the White House during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

1995-1996 - Executive Assistant to then-CIA Deputy Director George Tenet.

1996-1999 - CIA Chief of Station in Saudi Arabia.

1999-2001 - Chief of Staff to then-CIA Director George Tenet.

March 2001-March 2003 - CIA Deputy Executive Director.

March 12, 2003-December 6, 2004 - Founding director of the CIA Terrorist Threat Integration Center.

October 2004-August 2005 - Interim Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

November 2005-January 2009 - President and CEO of The Analysis Corporation.

2008 - Intelligence adviser to then-Sen. Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

January 20, 2009-March 2013 - Assistant to President Barack Obama for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

January 7, 2013 - Nominated by President Barack Obama to be director of the CIA.

February 7, 2013 - Testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of his confirmation hearings.

March 7, 2013 - Confirmed by the Senate, 63-44.

March 8, 2013 - Brennan sworn in as CIA director.

March 11, 2014 - Sen. Dianne Feinstein of the Senate Intelligence Committee claims the CIA secretly monitored the computers of congressional staffers while they were conducting an internal review of the spy agency's detention program. Feinstein says Brennan told her that the CIA had looked at the computers due to concerns that staffers may have obtained documents they were not authorized to see. Brennan responds that Feinstein's statement is false. "As far as the allegations of CIA hacking into Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth," Brennan says.

July 31, 2014 - Brennan apologizes to the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledging that the CIA did, in fact, look at their computers.

November 20, 2014 - In a letter to CIA staffers, Brennan announces that an internal review is being launched to assess whether the agency should change its organizational structure as it copes with an ever-changing array of national security issues.

December 9, 2014 - The Senate Intelligence Committee releases a summary report that details the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques, which included mock executions of detainees and rectal feeding. The report found these techniques were not effective means of obtaining accurate information.

December 11, 2014 - Brennan defends the CIA's practices during a news conference, declaring that the CIA obtained useful intelligence from detainees, including info that led to the bin Laden raid.

March 6, 2015 - In a memo to CIA staff, Brennan announces changes to the agency's structure in response to cybersecurity concerns and an increasingly complex counterterrorism landscape.

January 15, 2017 - Tells Fox News' Chris Wallace that he doesn't think President-elect Donald Trump has "a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia's intentions," and that Trump's public displays of contempt for the US intelligence community could undermine national security. His remarks are made after Trump rejects intelligence agencies' reports of claims that Russia has compromising information on the President-elect.

January 20, 2017 - Leaves office.

May 23, 2017 - Brennan tells House Russia investigators that Russia "brazenly interfered" in US elections, including actively contacting members of President Trump's campaign, but Brennan stops shy of dubbing it "collusion."

September 4, 2017 - Is named a distinguished fellow for global security at Fordham Law School's Center on National Security.