Each March, the United States celebrates the impact of women in our nation and communities during Women’s History Month. Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) eagerly joins in the celebration by highlighting just a few of the many impactful women who make up our staff, faculty, alumni, and student body.
Michele Rigby Assad is a PBA alumna and former CIA Intelligence Officer who specialized in counterterrorism, counterintelligence and lie detection. She had five overseas tours, spending the majority of her career in the Middle East, including Iraq and other secret locations. Since leaving the CIA, she and her husband have run an international consulting firm that provides support to Western and not-native companies working in the Arabian Gulf, the wider Middle East, and several countries in Asia and Europe (SITE Advisors). Assad was recently awarded PBA’s third annual Humanitarian Award for her commitment to international diplomacy, exemplary leadership, and unwavering dedication to supporting PBA over the years. Read on to learn what Women’s History Month means to her.
Why is Women’s History Month meaningful to you?
My service as a CIA intelligence officer was a challenge because of internal CIA ideas about women’s capabilities (including the lack of interest to know what our skills, experience, and talents were), compounded by serving in the Middle East where women’s rights were seriously impacted by religion, culture, and ideology. I had to work extra hard to shine, and am proud of all women who have faced similar challenges and triumphed to have an impact in our various industries. This month is a good time to reflect on the strength, perseverance, and faith needed to triumph no matter what the challenge.
Who is a woman who has made a significant impact upon your life, and how?
My mother worked hard, ran her own business, and instilled the values of hard work and perseverance in me. My mother-in-law ran an orphanage in Egypt and raised ten thousand children by great faith and endurance.
What are some challenges you have faced in your career and how have you sought to
overcome them?
I have literally written a whole book on this! When I started tradecraft training in the CIA, there was a very strong assumption that women could not handle terrorist or insurgent sources in the Middle East because those sources don’t respect women. What they didn’t calculate is how hard I worked to understand Arab culture, how much time I’d spent in the Arab World seeking to interact with all kinds of people, and they didn’t consider my yearning to succeed. In 10 years of service, I was able to demonstrate that you can overcome obstacles with your intellect, which I showed by being smarter than my terror assets. I used my emotional intelligence to win their respect and induce them to work with me. And even when they didn’t respect me, I’d use that to uncover double agents and lying sources.
What advice would you give to young women launching their careers?
Don’t ever give up. Work harder. Be smarter. Develop wisdom through experience. Go where others won’t go. Do what others won’t do. Be courageous when others are scared, timid, or don’t want to put themselves out there.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
God knows what you are capable of, even when you don’t. If he opens a door, even if it is deeply uncomfortable or intimidating, do it and don’t give up. Even if you are sent to war zones, you get shelled every day, and you’re dealing with lies and fabrications at every turn—it’s those hard spaces and difficulties that make the woman/man.
Assad will return to campus in May as this year’s commencement speaker. Read her latest book, “Get Off the X: C.I.A. Secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving Your Life’s Mission,” in the meantime to learn her strategies for overcoming fear, uncertainty, and intimidation to push past what you think you’re capable of.
