Fred Burton

Fred Burton is one of the world's foremost authorities on security and terrorism. He oversees Stratfor's analysis of global security developments and consults with clients on security-related issues affecting their business assets or personal safety. He also guides the firm's coverage of situations involving terrorism, hostages, hijackings and plane crashes. Before joining Stratfor, Mr. Burton served as a counterterrorism agent with the U.S. State Department from 1985 to 1999.

During his 14-year career, Mr. Burton was involved in many high-profile investigations including: the search for and arrest of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing; the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; the killing of Rabbi Meir Kahane and al Qaeda's New York City bombing plots before 9/11; and the deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Mr. Burton was deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service, where he was in charge of preventing and investigating attacks against diplomatic personnel and facilities. While a Stratfor analyst, he was appointed to the Border Security Council and served as the Assistant Director for Intelligence & Counterterrorism at the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Mr. Burton is the author of three books, including the best-selling memoir, GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent (Random House, 2008), in which he tells the story of his role in the fight against the burgeoning terrorist threat in the 1980s and beyond. His second book, Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice (Palgrave, 2011), follows his 35-year quest to solve the case of an Israeli diplomat assassinated in Mr. Burton's childhood neighborhood. His latest book, Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi (St. Martin's, 2013), is a New York Times best-seller and provides the first detailed account of the infamous assault in Libya in September, 2012. Burton's latest book, Beirut Rules (Penguin Random House, 2018), about the 1980s kidnapping and murder of CIA station Chief William Buckley, becomes available October 23, 2018.

Mr. Burton has been featured as a terrorism and security expert in numerous media outlets, including ABC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Show, NBC's The Today Show, CBS's The Early Show, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, NPR, Al Jazeera English, FOX News and the Financial Times.

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AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Terrorism Trends and Tactics
• Supply Chain Threats
• Countersurveillance
• High Net Worth Family Protection
• Terrorist Organizations
• Industrial Espionage
• Travel and Hotel Security
• Border Security
• Domestic Hate Groups
• Kidnappings