Aaron Lukas

Aaron Paul Lukas (born May 18, 1971) is an American intelligence officer and policy analyst who has served as the principal deputy director of national intelligence since 2025. Lukas graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1993 and from George Washington University with a master's degree in international affairs in 1998. He interned at the Cato Institute beginning in 1995 and became a policy analyst in 1997. Lukas served as the chief speechwriter for Robert Zoellick, the United States trade representative, from 2002 to 2004. In 2004, Lukas became an analyst, and later an operations officer, at the Central Intelligence Agency. He served as an intelligence aide to Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence, in 2020, and later served as the deputy senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council from 2020 to 2021. In March 2025, President Donald Trump nominated Lukas to serve as the principal deputy director of national intelligence. He was confirmed by the Senate in July.