Christopher Whitcomb, a fifteen-year veteran of the FBI, is an internationally recognized authority in the fields of terrorism, operational security, interrogation and behavioral analysis. He has published three books: White (July, 2005), Black (June 2004) and Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team (September 2001), and writes on a freelance basis for several national publications. Whitcomb, who works as on-air analyst for CBS News, serves as Chief Executive Officer of Watch House International, a secured infrastructure development company he founded in 2006.
Prior to leaving the FBI as a supervisory special agent in 2001, Whitcomb worked many of the FBI’s highest profile investigations, including the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, war crimes in Kosovo and the USS Cole bombing in Aden, Yemen. In his most recent position as director of the FBI Critical Incident Response Group’s Strategic Information Management Office, he oversaw crisis-specific planning and intelligence management during attacks involving weapons of mass destruction, terrorist threats, and exotic criminal investigations.
Whitcomb, who has a Master’s degree in Education, taught interrogation to new agents and senior law enforcement executives at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. While there, he wrote the Integrated Case Scenario, an innovative training program that serves as the basis of the FBI Academy’s eighteen-week new agent training curriculum
From 1991 to 1997, Whitcomb served on the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team where he distinguished himself as an assaulter, sniper, explosives expert and tactical helicopter operations officer. He has been awarded numerous citations and awards, including the FBI’s Medal of Bravery for exceptional courage in the line of duty.
Since the release of his internationally best-selling memoir, Cold Zero, in 2001, Whitcomb has become a regular on dozens of television and radio programs. He has been a frequent contributor to Imus in the Morning, the Today show, and he co-hosted Checkpoint on CNBC from 2002 to 2003. He has appeared on dozens of major market television and radio programs including Meet the Press, 60 Minutes II, Larry King Live, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Montel Williams, National Public Radio, BBC TV and many others.
Whitcomb currently provides on-air analysis for CBS News, speaks around the world on security and crisis-resolution matters and has spoken before the United States Senate, British Parliament, the United Nations, and dozens of professional organizations. He has written a monthly column for c magazine and has been published in the New York Times Magazine, FHM, the New York Times, and many other newspapers and magazines.
