Cathy Lanier serves as the chief security officer (CSO) for the National Football League (NFL). As the league’s CSO, she supervises all operations and activities of the NFL Security Department—overseeing coordination with the league office and all 32 clubs and working with federal, state, and local law entities to ensure the security of the NFL’s venues, fans, players, staff, and infrastructure. Prior to her work at the NFL, Cathy served as chief of police with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) from 2007 to 2016, becoming the first female police chief of the nation’s capital, the first commanding officer of Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism for D.C.

Police, and the longest serving chief on the D.C. force. Her innovative strategies were credited with reducing violent crime in Washington by 21 percent from 2007 to 2015, while the city’s population grew by 15 percent. Cathy is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Unit Commanders Academy.

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in management from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in national security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Please enjoy! This episode is brought to you by: Eight Sleep Pod Cover 5 sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: EightSleep.com/Tim Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/Tim Helix Sleep premium mattresses: HelixSleep.com/Tim Wealthfront high-yield cash account: Wealthfront.com/Tim Listen onSpotify Listen onApple Podcasts Listen onOvercast Cathy Lanier, NFL Chief Security Officer — From Food Stamps to the Super Bowl War Room Additional podcast platforms Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcripts This episode (coming soon) All episodes SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE Connect with Cathy Lanier: LinkedIn Books Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World—Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It by Ken Alibek and Stephen Handelman Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell People Ken Alibek Marion Barry Adrian Fenty Malcolm Gladwell Henry Kissinger Thomas “T.C.” Maslin Timothy McVeigh William C.

Patrick III Sonya Proctor Charles H. Ramsey Jocko Willink Companies, Institutions, & Organizations Center for Domestic Preparedness (FEMA) FBI National Academy (FBI) Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC) National Football League (NFL) Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) Promark Partners US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Events & Cases 1991 Mount Pleasant Riot 1993 World Trade Center Bombing 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing 2001 September 11 (9/11) Attacks 2001 Anthrax (Amerithrax) Attacks 2026 Super Bowl Security Tools, Technologies, & Chemical/Biological Agents Referenced Palm Treo PalmPilot Sarin Text the Police: 50411 | Metropolitan Police Department of DC VX (Nerve Agent) Concepts CISM: Certified Information Security Manager CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional Red Teaming Sayre’s Law Timestamps [00:00] Start. [01:38] Cathy Lanier: from Tuxedo to the top. [03:22] Dad vanishes; Mom holds the line (and takes shorthand to the TV). [08:08] Bused into DC: straight-A student turns chronic truant. [10:37] Married at 15, signed over for $100 off child support. [12:54] The baby-in-the-crib wake-up call. [16:37] GED by a single point; secretary by day, waitress by night. [20:18] The Washington Post ad that changed everything. [20:39] 1990 MPD: into the crack cocaine wars. [23:46] Grandma’s gospel: no excuses, damned for doing. [26:23] Mount Pleasant riots: trial by brick, and a better-way epiphany. [33:23] Donny Exum’s nudge — and sergeant at 26. [38:56] Being a woman on the ’90s force: harassment and the 90-day dodge. [49:38] Marion Barry exits, Chuck Ramsey enters. [51:08] Lieutenant: the sweet spot.

Captain: the desk (but keep the cuffs). [56:58] 9/11 and the surprise transfer to Special Ops. [58:07] Mentors lend confidence — and a counterterrorism bureau built from scratch. [1:00:14] Live Sarin, VX, and training with bioweapons legends. [1:02:22] Text the 50, get the 411: the tip line gambit. [1:03:36] Cultivating sources: the white Escalade payoff. [1:09:02] Attention to detail: OCD as a superpower. [1:10:43] Teletubby pagers to smartphones — and the Thomas Maslin reckoning. [1:15:14] NFL security: the scope of “everything.” [1:17:10] Red teaming, explained. [1:18:53] NFL vs. MPD: div