Ambassador Black's Biography

Ambassador Cofer Black Chairman Ambassador Cofer Black, Chairman of Total Intelligence Solutions, is an internationally acknowledged expert in counterterrorism. Ambassador Black is also the Vice Chairman of Blackwater USA, Inc., where he leads strategic direction and business development for a group of five companies that provide training and tactical solutions for the 21st century.Ambassador Black also serves as the CEO of The Black Group, LLC, a company providing security services for corporate executives, their employees, and facilities throughout the world. The Black Group delivers enterprise security to protect the firm's assets and improve the results anticipated in business plans.Prior to his current position, Ambassador Black was the State Department's Coordinator for Counterterrorism with the rank of Ambassador at Large from December 2002 to February 2005.The State Department is the lead federal agency dealing with international terrorism, and Ambassador Black's office, S/CT, had primary responsibility for developing, coordinating, and implementing U.S. counterterrorism policy. On behalf of the Secretary of State, Ambassador Black represented the Department on the Counterterrorism Security Group. His office played a leading role on the Department of State's counterterrorism task forces organized to coordinate responses to international terrorist incidents. Ambassador Black's responsibilities included coordinating U.S. Government efforts to improve counterterrorism cooperation with foreign governments, including the policy and planning of the Department's Antiterrorism Training Assistance Program.Ambassador Black, who was born in Stamford, Connecticut and received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from the University of Southern California in International Relations, has had a distinguished 28-year career in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency. Prior to joining the State Department, Ambassador Black was the Director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center. In this capacity, he served as the CIA Director's Special Assistant for Counterterrorism as well as the National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism. During his CIA career, Ambassador Black served six foreign tours in field management positions. In addition to numerous exceptional performance awards and meritorious citations, Ambassador Black received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the George H. Bush Medal for Excellence, the Donovan Award for Excellence, and the Exceptional Collector Award.