John Philip Mudd[2][3] (born December 11, 1961) is an American media commentator and former counterterrorism official in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Mudd was born on December 11, 1961,[4][5] to his father, who worked in real estate, and his mother, a teacher at Barry University.

Mudd encouraged agents to postpone the arrest of terrorism suspects and argued to instead surveil them in order to gain intelligence regarding connections to other operatives as well as information about groups' financial ties, a concept he initially struggled to implement.

[10] He later withdrew himself from consideration after Senator Kit Bond had declared his intent to question Mudd regarding his involvement with the Bush administration's enhanced interrogation program.

On August 17, Mudd had engaged in a heated on-air discussion with fellow CNN contributor Paris Dennard concerning Trump's intent to revoke former CIA Director John Brennan's security clearance.

Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden expressed support for Mudd, calling him a "hero" and a "counter terrorism giant".