“I was 55 years old when I went through IWP. I always learned something. IWP is like a hidden gem for veterans of the military, national security, and intelligence communities.”
-Kevin Lawrence (’18)
When Kevin Lawrence came to IWP, he had served for 22 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, including 17 years as a counterintelligence agent. During this time, he conducted scores of intelligence operations, including the debrief of a senior Marine Corps Officer held Prisoner of War during Desert Storm, and thwarting a coup in a foreign country, protecting millions of dollars’ worth of U.S. military equipment. He brought his extensive counterintelligence experience to his classes at IWP.
Here, he shares reflections about working in counterintelligence in both the military and private sector, as well as his studies at IWP.
A career in the U.S. Marine Corps
A country boy from East Texas, Kevin was not too familiar with the military until a friend he knew from high school came home wearing a United States Marine Corps dress-blue uniform. “I loved the uniform, and I loved the way he had changed,” remembered Kevin, who was attending a local junior college at the time. “I told myself that is what I wanted to do.”
He attended college on a scholarship, and soon dropped out and joined the Marine Corps.
There, he graduated basic training as the Company Honor graduate and was assigned a role as an administration clerk for a counterintelligence (CI) team. He became familiar with CI work, and soon he was encouraged to become a counterintelligence agent himself. As soon as he achieved the necessary prerequisites (age, rank, qualification scores), Kevin did a lateral move from administration to CI.
Work as a counterintelligence agent
As a CI agent for the USMC, Kevin ran CI operations across the globe for 17 years.
In one foreign country, the foreign national who was serving as a source for Kevin shared information with him about an impending coup against that country. Kevin sent this information up the chain of command to the national level, and as a result, the coup was thwarted. U.S. military equipment in the region worth millions of dollars, including military aircraft, was protected. Kevin received an award for his work in this operation.
Kevin also worked at the national level. He served with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon and with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
“I worked with every three-letter agency we have in the U.S.,” said Kevin. “I was very blessed. I did not know that this work would be so rewarding and that I would have so many opportunities. I dove into everything. It was interesting, fun, and challenging.”
Private sector work and graduate school
After 22 years in the Marine Corps, Kevin retired in 2006 but continued his work with the IC. He worked for Accenture Federal Services, Accenture’s U.S. wholly owned subsidiary, to pursue business development opportunities in the IC. “Although I was retired from the military, I still supported our intelligence organizations, carried a clearance, and was contributing to our national security,” said Kevin.
In 2016, Kevin decided to use his GI Bill funds to attend graduate school.
“I’m a CI agent, so I do deep dive analysis before I buy any product,” said Kevin. “Before I buy a car, I do thorough research. Before I enrolled in graduate school, I did research on the top intelligence schools in the national capital region. IWP came up in my search. I had never heard of it before.
“Reading about the mission, curriculum, professors, and how the school was formed, I was drawn into IWP completely. This is what I wanted to be a part of.”
The IWP experience as a veteran
As with any school, you don’t fully know what you are getting into until you are in the classroom. “You can read the titles of the courses and the synopsis of the curriculum, but it doesn’t give you the true picture of the experience until you are there,” said Kevin.
Kevin enjoyed having professors with significant experience in their fields. Although he had his own extensive professional experience, the professors came from different backgrounds and were able to challenge Kevin and make the classes interesting.
“The curriculum went beyond the operational level,” said Kevin. “The professors’ worldviews and experience, whether in intelligence, economics, history, or other topics, helped me understand beyond my own area within the IC. It was neat to broaden my perspective outside of my specialty.”
In one of his classes, he found that he and the professor had worked at the same organization and had colleagues in common. “We laughed about it,” said Kevin. “We probably crossed paths and didn’t know it!”
Mentoring IWP students
During his Executive M.A. program, Kevin enjoyed the camaraderie and developing new relationships. He also found it rewarding to mentor his fellow students.
“IWP has a lot of young students who are pursuing their passion in intelligence and national security. When they would learn about my background, they would start asking me questions. I would share things that would help them understand intelligence topics from a different perspective.”
As an alumnus, Kevin continues to mentor our students. Most recently, he led a mentoring session on careers in counterintelligence this spring. After the session, he connected with several of the participants, continued to share advice, and passed along their resumes to his contacts in the intelligence community.
To new IWP students, Kevin shares this advice:
- Be a sponge. Never think you know more than someone else, whether they are inexperienced or the most knowledgeable person out there. Keep an open mind. God gave us one mouth and two ears. Listen twice as much as you speak, and you will learn much more.
- Don’t take IWP for granted. If you go there just to check the box to get your degree, you have missed out on a wealth of history and knowledge.
- Participate in the alumni mentoring and social events. Few other universities do alumni mentoring events to the same extent. IWP is a small organization, and you can become embedded in everything it can offer. It has quality over quantity.
- Visit the library. The library you guys have down there is phenomenal! I’m amazed at how much knowledge and wisdom is in that small library. There are some books down there that I don’t think you can get anywhere else. If you’re at IWP and don’t go to the library, it’s like living in San Diego and not going to the beach. Then you move away and wish you had gone.
- Learn about IWP’s buildings. Do research on the campus that IWP occupies. There is an intriguing history in that alone!
