 | This article contains promotional content .(April 2022) |
Fred Burton is geopolitical intelligence platform Stratfor's chief security officer [1] [2] and a New York Times bestselling author.
| This article contains promotional content .(April 2022) |
Fred Burton is geopolitical intelligence platform Stratfor's chief security officer [1] [2] and a New York Times bestselling author.
Burton was born January 2, 1958, in Beckley, West Virginia, United States. He attended high school in Bethesda, Maryland, and became a volunteer with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad at age 18, in 1975. He remains a Life Member of the organization, which bills itself as the world's largest volunteer rescue squad. His volunteer activities are briefly referenced in his first book, "Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent."
Some of the events in his early life are recounted in the 2011 book Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice. Burton has said he was deeply impacted by the murder in 1973 of a neighbor, Joe Alon, who was later discovered to have been an Israeli intelligence operative.
Burton began his career in law enforcement as a police officer in Montgomery County, Maryland and later worked for the U.S. Secret Service. [3] From 1985 to 1999, he was a special agent with the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). He eventually became the deputy chief of the DSS counterterrorism division.
While with the DSS, Burton was appointed by Washington to assist in the investigation of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He also investigated the killing of Rabbi Meir Kahane; the al Qaeda New York City bombing plots before the September 11 attacks; and the Libyan-backed terrorist attacks against diplomats in Sana'a and Khartoum. He was involved in the arrest of Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
Mr. Burton joined Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based geopolitical forecasting and analysis company, in 2004. Reflections on his experiences as a counterterrorism agent are recorded in his series, Lessons From Old Case Files.
Additionally, he was appointed to the Texas Border Security Council on September 11, 2007 by Governor Rick Perry. [4] In August 2009, he was hired as the Texas Department of Public Safety's Assistant Director for Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism but left after two months to pursue his writing and speaking career. Burton regularly briefs corporate executive teams on security related issues and speaks at a variety of both public and private events, including the Southern Law Network's 18th Annual General Counsel Event [5] On Oct. 12, 2017, he moderated a panel at the Fourth Annual Texas National Security Forum at The University of Texas at Austin with former acting Director of Central Intelligence John McLaughlin, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency David Shedd, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Intelligence and Analysis Leslie Ireland and former Under Secretary of Defense Marcel Lettre. [6]
Burton is the author of a memoir, Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent, published by Random House in 2008, [7] and Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2011. [8]
Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi, written by Burton and Samuel M. Katz, was published by St. Martin's Press in September 2013 and was a New York Times bestseller. [Vanity Fair] ran a lengthy excerpt from the book shortly before it was published. [9] HBO has purchased the film rights to the book, with executive producer Jerry Weintraub [10] to oversee production.
In addition to his own memoirs, Burton has been referenced or portrayed in other books, including 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI—Untold Story [11] by former ABC News correspondent Peter Lance and a commemorative book of photos published by the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, 25 Years in Pictures Archived 2014-02-28 at the Wayback Machine .
Burton's involvement in the search for and capture of Ramzi Yousef was chronicled in Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the Manhunt for the Al-Qaeda Terrorists by Sam Katz (Forge, 2002). The acquaintance that was formed as Katz was writing this book led to his collaboration with Burton more than a decade later on Under Fire.
Burton's latest book, Beirut Rules, [12] is co-written with Samuel Katz and will be released by Penguin Random House h in October 2018. [13] The book chronicles the abduction, torture and murder of CIA Station Chief William Buckley by Hezbollah in the early 1980s. After reading Beirut Rules, former President George H.W. Bush said: “In these pages, Fred Burton and Samuel Katz ably describe the selfless service and ultimate sacrifice of CIA’s William F. Buckley, murdered brutally while held as a hostage in Lebanon. Beirut Rules can’t bring this quiet hero back to life. But it will show a new generation the value of a life well lived in service of country.”[ citation needed ]
Burton is frequently interviewed as a security expert by world news media on topics ranging from terrorist attacks to corporate security and U.S.-Mexico border security.
He appeared in the documentary "Drug Wars," by writer/director Gary "Rusty" Fleming (2008). He also was featured in Liora Amir Barmatz's 2011 documentary, "Who Shot My Father?", about the 1973 murder of Israeli Air Force colonel Joe Alon and his family's subsequent quest to solve the case.
In May 2008, Burton was interviewed on Comedy Central's The Daily Show [ dead link ] by host Jon Stewart. He regularly speaks with national and international media on counterterrorism, law enforcement and other security related matters, including the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. [14]
In July 2016, Burton sat down with Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer to discuss how corporate executives are responding to recent international terrorist attacks. In November 2016, Burton was featured in a Washington Post story on the potential threats to Trump-branded properties around the world after the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.
Osama bin Laden was a Saudi Arabian-born Islamist dissident and militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, he participated in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union and supported the activities of the Bosnian mujahideen during the Yugoslav Wars. After issuing his declaration of war against the Americans in 1996, Bin Laden began advocating attacks targeting U.S. assets in several countries, and supervised al-Qaeda's execution of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001.
The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) is the principal law enforcement and security agency of the United States Department of State (DOS). As the operational division of DOS Bureau of Diplomatic Security, its primary mission is to provide security to protect diplomatic assets, personnel, and information, and combat transnational crimes connected to visa and passport fraud. DSS also conducts counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cybersecurity and criminal investigations domestically and abroad.
Joseph Cofer Black is an American former CIA officer who served as director of the Counterterrorism Center in the years surrounding the September 11th attacks, and was later appointed Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the State Department by President George W. Bush, serving until his resignation in 2004. Prior to his roles combatting terrorism, Black served across the globe in a variety of roles with the Directorate of Operations at the CIA.
The Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda link allegations were based on false claims by the United States government alleging that a secretive relationship existed between Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the Sunni pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda between 1992 and 2003. U.S. president George W. Bush used it as a main reason for invading Iraq in 2003.
Gary Berntsen is an American former Central Intelligence Agency career officer. During his time at the CIA, he served as a Station Chief on three occasions and led several counterterrorism deployments including the United States’ response to the East Africa Embassy bombings and the 9/11 attacks. He was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal in 2000 and the Intelligence Star in 2004.
Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) is United States Department of State's national security interagency program that offers reward for information leading to the location or an arrest of leaders of terrorist groups, financiers of terrorism, including any individual that abide in plotting attacks carried out by foreign terrorist organizations. RFJ directly addresses the foreign threat by identifying entities such as key leaders and financial mechanism of the foreign terrorist organizations. RFJ's mission objective is to obtain information that will protect American lives in best interest of U.S. national security. RFJ is managed by the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) administered by the U.S. State Department Office Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Mohammed Saddiq Odeh is a Saudi-born al-Qaeda member, sentenced in October 2001 to life imprisonment for his parts in the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7, 1998. Odeh was convicted along with three co-conspirators: Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-Owhali, Khalfan Khamis Mohamed and Wadih el Hage. Another defendant, Ali Mohamed, pleaded guilty the previous year. Another, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, was awaiting trial, and three additional defendants were fighting extradition in England.
A regional security officer (RSO) is a special agent of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) in charge of a regional security office. The RSO is the principal security attaché and advisor to the U.S. ambassador at American embassies and consulates. Working for the United States Department of State as special agents, RSOs are also considered to be officers of the State Department acting as specialists within the United States Foreign Service. The RSO is also the senior law enforcement representative at a U.S. Embassy.
The Bin Laden Issue Station, also known as Alec Station, was a standalone unit of the Central Intelligence Agency in operation from 1996 to 2005 dedicated to tracking Osama bin Laden and his associates, both before and after the 9/11 attacks. It was headed initially by CIA analyst Michael Scheuer and later by Richard Blee and others.
American officials have reported that the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had numerous bodyguards. They reported that the detainees held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp included at least 30 of Bin Laden's bodyguards.
Rita Katz is a terrorism analyst and the co-founder of the Search International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Intelligence Group, a private intelligence firm based in Washington, D.C.
Michael A. Sheehan was an American author and former government official and military officer. He was a Distinguished Chair at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York and a terrorist analyst for NBC News.
After the Central Intelligence Agency lost its role as the coordinator of the entire United States Intelligence Community (IC), special coordinating structures were created by each president to fit his administrative style and the perceived level of threat from terrorists during his term.
Ali H. Soufan is a Lebanese-American former FBI agent who was involved in a number of high-profile anti-terrorism cases both in the United States and around the world. A 2006 New Yorker article described Soufan as coming closer than anyone to preventing the September 11 attacks and implied that he would have succeeded had the CIA been willing to share information with him. He resigned from the FBI in 2005 after publicly chastising the CIA for not sharing intelligence with him which could have prevented the attacks.
Bill Roggio is an American commentator on military affairs, and the managing editor of The Long War Journal. Prior to leading a team of online commentators, Roggio published the online weblog The Fourth Rail. Roggio was an active duty soldier in the United States Army in the 1990s.
Yosef (Joe) Alon, born Josef Plaček, was an Israeli Air Force officer and military attache to the U.S. who was shot and killed in the driveway of his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
SITE Intelligence Group is an American for-profit consultancy group that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organizations. It is led by the Israeli analyst Rita Katz and based in Bethesda, Maryland. From 2002 to 2008, Katz headed an organization called the SITE Institute.
WikiLeaks began publishing emails leaked from strategic intelligence company Stratfor on 27 February 2012 under the title Global Intelligence Files. By July 2014, WikiLeaks had published 5,543,061 Stratfor emails. Wikileaks partnered with more than 25 world media organisations, including Rolling Stone, L’Espresso and The Hindu to analyse the documents.
An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden's Jihad and Restoring America's Honor is a non-fiction book about counterterrorism strategies towards al-Qaeda, written by U.S. Navy retired cryptology analyst Malcolm Nance. The book describes how the September 11 attacks changed the traditional Muslim community around the globe. Nance criticizes the approach of the George W. Bush administration, including the verbiage and public presentations used in the War on Terror. The author argues al-Qaeda is not part of Islam but is instead a dangerous religious cult. Nance writes the United States should commit to better education with a public relations campaign to encourage traditional believers in Islam around the world to denounce al-Qaeda.
Terrorist Recognition Handbook: A Practitioner's Manual for Predicting and Identifying Terrorist Activities is a non-fiction book about counterterrorism strategies, written by U.S. Navy retired cryptology analyst Malcolm Nance. The book is intended to help law enforcement and intelligence officials with the professional practice of behavior analysis and criminal psychology of anticipating potential terrorists before they commit criminal acts. Nance draws from the field of traditional criminal analysis to posit that detecting domestic criminals is similar to determining which individuals are likely to commit acts of terrorism. The book provides resources for the law enforcement official including descriptions of devices used for possible bombs, a database of terrorist networks, and a list of references used. Nance gives the reader background on Al-Qaeda tactics, clandestine cell systems and sleeper agents, and terrorist communication methods.
Fred Burton, the vice president of intelligence at Stratfor, discusses the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a U.S. raid in Pakistan yesterday.
Joining us now from Austin, Texas, is Fred Burton, the vice president of Intelligence for Stratfor.com.
Fred Burton is one of the world's foremost experts on security, terrorists, and terrorist organizations. He is vice president of intelligence at Stratfor, an influential private intelligence company. He is the former deputy chief of the Diplomatic Security Service, the Department of State's counterterrorism division.
On a warm Saturday night in July 1973 in Bethesda Maryland, a gunman stepped out from behind a tree and fired five point-blank shots into Joe Alon, an unassuming Israeli Air Force pilot and family man. Alon's sixteen-year-old neighbor, Fred Burton, was deeply shocked by this crime that rocked his sleepy suburban neighborhood.
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