From the CIA to Ohio State: Anita Bucknam’s path to academia

John Wernet
Tue, 30 Dec 2025 02:26:09 +0000
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Professor Anita Bucknam. Credit: Courtesy of Anita Bucknam

After landing in Moscow, Anita Bucknam handed her diplomatic passport to the passport control officer. She expected it back, but they kept it and told her to stand off to the side.?

She waited for about 30 minutes before the passport was returned without explanation.

Today, Bucknam has two theories for what happened.

“They knew who I was, and they wanted to make it clear they did not like me,” Bucknam said. “And the other thing, I think they were setting up a tail.”

Bucknam shares many of these stories about working at the Central Intelligence Agency, also known as the CIA, as a professor of security and intelligence. Her journey in the agency began when she was a student.

Bucknam studied Soviet and Russian studies at Harvard University and graduated in 1989. Afterwards, she said she started considering ways to use her interest in international affairs.?

“I tried to figure out, ‘OK, I’ve got this degree in Soviet studies just as the Soviet Union is falling apart in 1991, what can I do that will pay me?’” Bucknam said. “[The] CIA came through trying to recruit people, and that’s when I found out what a CIA analyst does. And I decided, ‘OK, I can do that.’”

As a CIA analyst, Bucknam said that she was not a spy.?

“First of all, ‘spy’ is the wrong word. We are all officers,” Bucknam said.

Analysts study information collected by various services to understand what’s relevant for the U.S. government.

“You look at all the information that’s coming in from all kinds of sources and try to figure out, ‘OK, what is going on with this issue that our policymakers need to know?’” Bucknam said.

Analysts then write assessments and deliver them to legislators, she said. Bucknam focused on Russian analysis until Sept. 11, 2001. Two days later, she was reassigned to oversee a counterterrorism unit.

Her new role quickly became stressful.

“Being in charge, I was working six or seven days a week, 10 or 12 hours a day,” Bucknam said. “I was looking for something else to do.”

Bucknam learned about the agency’s Officer in Residence program, which sends officers to teach courses at different universities to give students insight into work in intelligence.

“So, I came [to Ohio State] under that program in 2006, and I decided I really like teaching,” said Bucknam, “So I retired from the CIA.”

Ohio State offered her a faculty position in 2008, and she has taught at the university ever since.

Bucknam now teaches three courses on intelligence and analysis. Students learn how the intelligence cycle works, study real case examples and practice writing briefings for government leaders, she said.

Lillianna Stafford, a third-year security and intelligence major, said her first impression of Bucknam was memorable.

“On day one, I saw this adorable elderly woman walk in, and then she said, ‘Yeah, I was a CIA officer,’ and our jaws dropped,” Stafford said. “When you think of a CIA officer, you think of a giant man, not a sweet, short lady.”

Stafford said Bucknam’s classes stand out for being engaging.

“She is my favorite class-style setup. She has the most interesting lectures,” Stafford said.

Some students also say they see themselves in Bucknam’s career. Stafford said that as a woman without a military background, Bucknam showed her that a future in federal service is possible.

“She kind of showed me that I really can do it if I want to,” Stafford said. “That it doesn’t matter that I have a high-pitched voice and I’m a girl.”

Bucknam hopes her students take those possibilities with them. For her, everything she teaches comes back to two principles.?

“The biggest lesson is learn that you can learn,” Bucknam said. “And the other part is think for yourself. Bottom line. Think for yourself.”