William McCants

William McCants is an accomplished professional in intelligence and counterterrorism, currently serving as the Head of Intelligence and Investigations at OpenAI since December 2023. Previously, McCants held various positions at Google from October 2017 to December 2023, including Director of Intelligence, Trust and Safety, and Senior Manager of Google Trust & Safety, focusing on monitoring security issues. McCants also directed the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World at The Brookings Institution from August 2013 to October 2017 and worked as a Research Analyst at CNA. McCants' governmental experience includes serving as Senior Adviser for Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of State and Program Manager of the Minerva Initiative at the United States Department of Defense. McCants founded Jihadica and has held fellowships at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. McCants earned a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and holds degrees from the University of Arizona and Lander University.