EARLY Access: Shawn Ryan Show #280 Sarah Adams (Patreon)

For years, Sarah Adams has worked where threat warnings begin, not where they end.

She is a targeting officer and global threat advisor with deep expertise in counterterrorism, threat network analysis, and overseas intelligence operations. Sarah served in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Counterterrorism Center, as well as in the Near East and Iran Operations Divisions, working on complex operations against both state and non-state adversaries.

Her deployed field work spans Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Across those theaters, her focus has remained consistent: identifying, assessing, and disrupting terrorist networks, hostile state activity, and emerging threats to the United States and allied interests.

After leaving the CIA, Sarah served as a Senior Advisor to the United States House of Representatives following an executive appointment from the Agency, applying operational experience directly to national security policy, oversight, and accountability. She later led research and development initiatives for the Department of Defense, advancing innovation, tradecraft modernization, and intelligence capabilities with enterprise-level impact.

She was deployed to Libya in 2012 and is the co-author of Benghazi: Know Thy Enemy, a cold-case, open-source investigation that identified the al-Qaeda operatives responsible for the attack on the U.S. Mission Compound and CIA Annex in Benghazi.

Today, Sarah is the host of The Watch Floor at Vigilance Elite, a podcast focused on emerging threats, global affairs, and homeland security risks for everyday audiences. The Watch Floor delivers need-to-know insights, explaining what matters, why it matters, and what comes next.