Cofer Black

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Cofer Black : biography

1950 –

Mitt Romney presidential campaign

On April 26, 2007, Black was chosen by Mitt Romney, a Republican candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election, to head his counter-terrorism policy advisory group.

In October 2011, Black was chosen by Romney to serve as "Special Adviser" on all foreign policy issues.

Director, CTC, 1999-2002

In June 1999 CIA chief George Tenet named Black director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center (CTC).Steve Coll, Ghost Wars (Penguin, 2005 edn), p.456. In this capacity, Black served as the CIA Director’s Special Assistant for Counterterrorism as well as the National Intelligence Officer for Counterterrorism."", Blackwater USA press release, Feb. 4, 2005. Black’s promotion was a part of Tenet’s "grand plan" for dealing with al-Qaeda. Black was the operational chief in charge of this effort. Tenet also put "Richard", one of his own assistants, in charge of the CTC’s bin Laden tracking unit. Black still headed the CTC at the time of the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Al-Qaeda strategy, 1999–2001

In December 1998 CIA chief Tenet "declared war" on Osama bin Laden.Coll, Ghost Wars, pp.436–7, and p.646 note 42; 9/11 Commission Report, , p.357 (). Early in 1999 Tenet "ordered the CTC to begin a ‘baseline’ review of the CIA’s operational strategy against bin Laden". In the spring he "demanded ‘a new, comprehensive plan of attack’ against bin Laden and his allies".

The CTC had produced a "comprehensive plan of attack" against bin Laden and previewed the new strategy to senior CIA management by the end of July 1999. By mid-September, it had been briefed to CIA operational level personnel, and to the NSA, the FBI, and other partners. The strategy was called simply, ‘the Plan’.

… [Cofer] Black and his new bin Laden unit wanted to "project" into Afghanistan, to "penetrate" bin Laden’s sanctuaries. They described their plan as military officers might. They sought to surround Afghanistan with secure covert bases for CIA operations — as many bases as they could arrange. Then they would mount operations from each of the platforms, trying to move inside Afghanistan and as close to bin Laden as they could to recruit agents and to attempt capture operations. Black wanted recruitments and he wanted to develop commando or paramilitary strike teams made up of officers and men who could "blend" into the region’s Muslim populations.

Black also arranged for a CIA team, headed by "Richard", who was in charge of the CTC’s Bin Laden unit, to visit Northern-Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, to discuss operations against bin Laden. The mission was codenamed "JAWBREAKER-5", the fifth in a series of such missions since autumn 1997. The team went in late October 1999, and stayed for seven days. Contemplated operations would be coordinated with the CIA’s other prospective efforts against al-Qaeda.

Once Cofer Black had finalized his operational plan …. [Charles] Allen [then associate deputy director of central intelligence for collection] created a dedicated al-Qa’ida cell with officers from across the intelligence community. This cell met daily, brought focus to penetrating the Afghan sanctuary, and ensured that collection initiatives were synchronized with operational plans. Allen met with [Tenet] on a weekly basis to review initiatives under way. His efforts were enabling operations and pursuing longer-range, innovative initiatives around the world against al-Qa’ida. …

It is not clear what relation this "Qaeda cell", which appeared to duplicate the function of the Bin Laden unit, had to the unit.

Parallel with these developments, in November–December 1999 Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Nawaf al-Hazmi visited Afghanistan, where they were selected for the "planes operation" that was to become known as 9/11.9/11 Commission Report, , pp.155–8, 168 . Data derived from subsequent intelligence interrogations of captives. Working with a Malaysian security unit, the CIA watched al-Hazmi and his companion Khalid al-Mihdhar as they attended a Qaeda conference in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000 (later determined to be where decisions about the "planes operation" were made).