Christopher Whitcomb

Christopher Whitcomb is the best-selling author of Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue

Team (Little Brown, 2001), Black (Little Brown, 2004), and White (Little Brown, 2005). He has

written for numerous publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine,

and GQ. He has collaborated with prominent authors such as David Baldacci, David Mamet, and

Frederick Forsyth, worked movie and television projects with Michael Schiffer and Peter Berg.

His second memoir, Anonymous Male (Random House), is scheduled for release in 2025.

During a distinguished career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Whitcomb worked bank

robbery and fugitive investigations in the Springfield (Missouri) Resident Agency. In 1991 he

was selected to the Hostage Rescue Team where he worked counter-terrorism cases around the

world. Once promoted to Supervisory Special Agent, he taught interrogation at the FBI

Academy, developed the investigative discipline of statement analysis with the National Center

for the Analysis of Violent Crime, wrote the FBI’s Integrated Case training curriculum.

In 2000, Whitcomb helped develop the FBI’s national Violent Criminal Apprehension Program

(ViCAP). He last served as director of the Strategic Information Management Office, where he

oversaw tactical intelligence during terrorist attacks. He has worked in highly challenging

environments, including Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Kosovo, Gaza, and Timor-Leste.

Whitcomb has appeared on countless multi-media programs including Today, Meet the Press,

The Daily Show, Larry King Live, and Imus in the Morning. He co-hosted Checkpoint CNBC

with Martha McCallum, where he was nominated for a Peabody Award, reporting from

Guantanamo Bay. He has spoken to diverse organizations including British Parliament, the

United Nations, major universities, trade associations, and Fortune 500 companies.

In 2004, Whitcomb founded Watch House International, a security company with government

and private sector clients around the world. In 2006 he moved to war torn Timor-Leste where he

founded Asia Pacific Assurance Company, which grew to become the country’s largest

employer. As CEO, he oversaw asset and personnel security for the United Nations Mission in

Timor, as well as more than 50 companies, banks, and non-governmental organizations.

Whitcomb most recently worked as Chief Advocacy Officer with ANDE Corporation,

pioneering Rapid DNA technology with the CIA, US Joint Special Operations Command, Israeli

Mossad, as well as agencies in Ukraine, Turkey, South Africa, Zambia, and Mozambique.

He has a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College, and a master’s degree from Virginia Tech.

He has been awarded the FBI’s Medal of Bravery.