Where is Cofer Black now? All about the American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden subject, explored
Cofer Black is a former American CIA officer who was the director of the Counterterrorism Center during the investigation surrounding the September 11 attacks. He was provided with the responsibility to investigate and search the group of terrorists responsible for the attacks and hand them over to the law of justice.
Black worked at the State Department and served under President George W. Bush until he resigned from the post in 2004. Since January 2016, Cofer Black has been serving as an independent director of Northwest Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnological company. The firm specializes in designing personal cancer vaccines for various stages of solid tumor cancers.
As per The Cinemaholic, Cofer Black was re-elected to the directorial position in the summer of 2024.
Netflix's American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden is a three-part docuseries that explores the complete story behind the execution of Osama bin Laden. Black features in the docuseries with an exclusive interview, where he reveals crucial and unheard insights from the mission. The docuseries was released on March 10, 2025.
What is the story of Cofer Black?
As per The Cinemaholic article published on March 10, 2025, Cofer Black was raised in the neighborhood of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Black earned his BA degree from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
The following year, he went on to pursue his master's in International Relations from the same university.
Reportedly, Black was enrolled in a doctoral program at USC but left and joined the CIA in 1975. He started his journey in the CIA while volunteering in Africa with his childhood experiences of travelling around the region with his father. He initially worked as a case officer in Lusaka, Zambia, during the time of the Rhodesian Bush War.
He was then transferred to Somalia and kept serving during the war between the National Party's government against the guerrilla rebellions opposing the apartheid system. In 1993, Cofer took the position of CIA's station chief and was transferred from London to Sudan.
He continued on to maintain US and Sudanese relations, serving in his post until 1995.
As per The Cinemaholic, in late 2002, Cofer Black was appointed to the role of Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the US State Department. After resigning from his position in November 2004, Black took the role of the Vice Chairman of a private military company named Blackwater USA.
He started serving the company in 2005 but soon discovered that the company was making illegal transactions with Iraqi authorities. As per The Cinemaholic, Black resigned from his position at Blackwater USA in 2008.
He went on to join Blackbird Technologies, serving from 2009 until 2014 as the Vice President for Global Operations.
As per a Washington Post article published on November 3, 2007, Cofer Blake also served as the chairman for Total Intelligence Solutions, which was a private intelligence gathering group.
What is Cofer Black doing now?
As per a Huffington Post article published on February 22, 2017, Black joined the board of directors for the Ukrainian oil and gas corporation Burisma in February 2017. Some of his primary tasks included maintaining the corporation's strategic development efforts and heading security.
As per the press release on Northwest Biotherapeutics published on January 25, 2016, Black was appointed as an independent director for the company in 2016. This biotechnology company specializes in creating vaccines for solid tumor cancers.
After serving the company for eight years, he was re-elected as the director in 2024.
For his service in the CIA, Cofer Black was awarded the highest award of honor, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
Additionally, he is also the recipient of the Donovan Award, the Exceptional Collector Award, and the George HW Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism.
Interested viewers can watch American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden on Netflix.
