Courtney Simmons Elwood

Courtney Simmons Elwood served as the general counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Trump administration between 2017 and 2021. From 2001 to 2007, she held a number of senior positions in the federal government, including as Associate Counsel to the President, Deputy Counsel to the Vice President, and Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Attorney General. Before and after that stint in the government, Simmons Elwood was a partner at the law firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, PLLC. She joined the firm in 1996, after clerking for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on the Supreme Court of the United States and for Judge J. Michael Luttig on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.