Maher Bitar serves as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs on the White House’s National Security Council staff. From 2017 to early 2021, Bitar served as General Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Before joining the Committee, Bitar was a member of the National Security Council’s Deputies Committee from 2015 until early 2017 in his capacity as Deputy to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. While a career civil servant at the Department of State, Bitar served previously on the White House’s National Security Council staff and as a diplomat focused on the Middle East. Bitar holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown Law, received a Master of Science degree from the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, and completed his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.