Sydney Seiler



Syd worked over 42 years in the US Government focused on Korean Peninsula issues as a senior policymaker, senior negotiator, senior executive manager, and intelligence officer. He served as the National Intelligence Council’s National Intelligence Officer for North Korea from 2020-2023. Syd has also served as the Department of State’s Special Envoy for Six-Party Talks, the White House National Security Council Staff’s Director for Korea Affairs, and the Senior Command Analyst for US Forces Korea. He has had assignments across the Intelligence Community in senior management, analysis, and operations, to include the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Office of the Director for National Intelligence.

Syd served over 17 years working in Korea and he has native-level fluency in Korean, and was a member of the Senior National Intelligence Service 2006-2023. Syd is the recipient of the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the President of the Republic of Korea’s Cheonsu Medal Order of National Security Merit, the Crypto-Linguistic Association Rochefort Award, and the Defense Language Institute’s Commandant’s Award.



Links for Sydney Seiler
ICAS Discourse with Sydney Seiler
ICAS Winter Symposium (icasinc.org)
ICAS Winter 2010 Symposium (icasinc.org)


This page last modified Oct 5, 2023 SA