Cofer Black

J. Cofer Black was the State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism with the rank of Ambassador at Large from December 2002 to November 2004. The point man for international counterterrorism policy in the first term of the Bush administration, he resigned shortly after George W. Bush was re-elected to office.

Black helped carry out Bush's hard-line anti-terror policy and was often the public face of the war the president declared on terrorism after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In September 2004, Black drew criticism from Democrats for suggesting that the mastermind of those attacks, Osama bin Laden, could be captured soon. That followed a botched State Department report Black oversaw on terrorism around the world in 2003 that was used to argue the United States was winning the war on terror. In June 2004, the administration had to correct the report to more than double the count of people killed and injured by international terrorism.

Prior to his assignment at the State Department, Black had a distinguished 28-year career in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency. Prior to joining the State Department, 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 1995, Black was named the Task Force Chief in the Near East and South Asia Division. From June 1998 through June 1999 he served as the Deputy Chief of the Latin America Division.

In addition to numerous exceptional performance awards and meritorious citations, Black received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the George H. Bush Medal for Excellence, and the Exceptional Collector Award for 1994.