Amaryllis Fox Kennedy (born Amaryllis Damerell Thornber; September 22, 1980) is an American former

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) officer and writer serving since 2025 as the Associate Director for Intelligence and International Affairs at the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...

(OMB) and as a member of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

Intelligence Advisory Board Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the ...

. She served in the CIA from 2002 to 2010. Kennedy wrote a memoir about her time in the CIA, ''Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA,'' published by

Knopf Doubleday Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the follow ...

in 2019. She has since hosted the six-episode

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

documentary series '' The Business of Drugs'', released in 2020. She was a campaign manager for her father-in-law Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 2024 independent presidential campaign.

Early life

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy was born in New York City as Amaryllis Damerell Thornber. Her mother, Lalage Damerell, is a retired English actress. Her father, Hodson Thornber, was an economist. Her mother has since married businessman and film producer

Steven Rales Steven M. Rales (born March 31, 1951) is an American businessman and film producer. He founded Danaher Corporation with his brother Mitchell Rales in 1984 and is its chairman. Rales also founded the film production company Indian Paintbrush in ...

. When Fox Kennedy was eight years old, her friend Laura died in the bombing of

Pan Am Flight 103 Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 "Clipper Maid of th ...

over Lockerbie, Scotland. She said of the event in an interview, "I remember being very, very overwhelmed by the loss and my dad intervened and said, 'you have to understand the forces that took her or they will drown you'." She has said the moment catalyzed her increased awareness of current events and geopolitical conditions. Growing up in Washington, D.C. and London, Fox Kennedy attended the

National Cathedral School National Cathedral School (NCS) is an independent Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal private school, private day school for girls in grades 4–12 located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, ...

beginning in eighth grade and graduated in 1998; she attended

The American School in London ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

during tenth grade. She completed undergraduate studies at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 2002. She has said that while at Oxford, she rebuffed approaches from the

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

. Before Fox Kennedy's last year at Oxford, the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

took place while she was visiting family in Washington, D.C.; subsequently, she decided to pursue a master's degree in conflict and terrorism at the

Walsh School of Foreign Service The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It grants degrees at both Undergraduate education, undergraduate and Postgraduate education, graduate lev ...

. For her master's thesis, Fox Kennedy developed an algorithm intended to identify local terrorist safe havens, which attracted the CIA's attention.

Career

Interview with Aung Sang Suu Kyi

In 1999, at age 18, Fox Kennedy clandestinely recorded an interview for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

with the Burmese leader

Aung Sang Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. She served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. ...

, then under house arrest. To arrange the meeting, Fox Kennedy worked with a local dissident journalist with whom she communicated via taped messages inside the water tank of a toilet at a café in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

. Her intent in the trip had been to make a secret recording of planned pro-democracy protests on September 9. A book, ''In the Quiet Land'', was set to be published in 2002, with film rights optioned to Golden Square Pictures and screenplay by Nick Thomas.

Central Intelligence Agency

Fox Kennedy became one of the CIA's youngest female officers at age 22, assigned to "

non-official cover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, ...

", entailing living abroad with a fake identity and no

diplomatic protection In international law, diplomatic protection (or diplomatic espousal) is a means for a state to take diplomatic and other action against another state on behalf of its national whose rights and interests have been injured by that state. Diplomati ...

. She has said she assumed the cover of an art dealer and focused on preventing terror organizations from acquiring

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

. After eight years at the agency, Fox left the CIA in 2010.

Memoir

Fox's memoir, ''Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA'', describes her experiences as an officer. Before its release, some former CIA officers took issue with her manuscript being submitted to publisher Knopf Doubleday without first being approved by the CIA's Publication Review Board, a potential violation of nondisclosure agreements that CIA staff sign. Attorney

Mark Zaid Mark S. Zaid (born 1967) is an American attorney,criminal with a practice focused on national security law,constitutional claims, and government accountability. In 1998 he founded the James Madison Project, an organization dedicated to reducin ...

represented Fox in that process. Some former CIA case officers have expressed skepticism about elements of Fox's accounts of events or raised questions about the circumvention of the CIA's approval process. Fox has responded that she took care not to reveal potentially sensitive details, and that some characters are composites.

Television and public speaking

Fox hosts the Netflix documentary series '' The Business of Drugs'', for which she traveled to several countries while in the third trimester of pregnancy. The show investigates the supply chains, social effects, and legal issues specific to six types of drugs: cocaine, synthetics, heroin, methamphetamine,

opioids Opioids are a class of Drug, drugs that derive from, or mimic, natural substances found in the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy plant. Opioids work on opioid receptors in the brain and other organs to produce a variety of morphine-like effects, ...

, and cannabis. She speaks at events around the world on dialogue and peacekeeping. Apple is reportedly developing a TV series based on Fox's memoir that will star

Brie Larson Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. She played supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, and has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and Blockbuste ...

, with Fox serving as an executive producer.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign manager

In April 2023, Kennedy joined the presidential campaign of

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954), also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, author, conspiracy theorist, and anti-vaccine activist serving as the 26th United States secretary of heal ...

(her father-in-law) as the co-campaign manager, along with

Dennis Kucinich Dennis John Kucinich ( ; October 8, 1946) is an American politician. Originally a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Kucinich served as U.S. Representative from Ohio's Ohio's 10th congressional district, 10th congressional district fro ...

. On October 13, 2023, upon Kucinich's resignation, Kennedy became the sole manager of the campaign.

Political and public service appointments

On February 11, 2025, Kennedy was appointed to serve as a member of

(PIAB). On February 21, she was appointed as the

's Associate Director for Intelligence and International Affairs.

Personal life

While living undercover in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, Kennedy married a fellow CIA officer, Dean Fox. The couple had a daughter. The marriage ended in divorce. Later, after leaving the agency, Kennedy was introduced at

Burning Man Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the Western United States. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the ...

to Robert F. Kennedy III,

's eldest son and a grandson of

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

, via a mutual friend. The two married on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

in 2018, and have two children together. Kennedy's stepfather is

, a Hollywood mogul and billionaire, who owns the media distribution companies

Janus Films Janus Films is an American film distribution company. The distributor is credited with introducing numerous films, now considered masterpieces of world cinema, to American audiences, including the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Sergei Eisenstein ...

and

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

. He also holds a 20% stake in the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox Kennedy, Amaryllis 1980 births Alumni of the University of Oxford American campaign managers American memoirists American people of English descent American spies American women memoirists American women television hosts Kennedy family Living people National Cathedral School alumni People associated with the 2024 United States presidential election People educated at The American School in London People from London People from Los Angeles People of the Central Intelligence Agency Television personalities from San Francisco Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Writers from Washington, D.C.