Cofer Black was the head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Counterterrorism Center during the September 11 attacks and the immediate aftermath. He is the public face of the agency’s paramilitary turn on September 12, 2001, and the figure most directly responsible for the CIA’s posture in the early Afghanistan campaign. John Kiriakou describes him with personal admiration: “I always had deep respect for Cofer. We can certainly have disagreements on policy, but man, what a patriot.”[1][2]
The “flies on Bin Laden’s eyeballs” quote
Black is the source of one of the canonical phrases of the post-September 11 period. At a Camp David meeting in the days immediately following the attacks, Black committed to President George W. Bush that he would “see flies on Bin Laden’s eyeballs” when his work was done. The quote — and the visceral conviction it conveyed — is widely credited as the reason Bush placed the CIA, rather than Donald Rumsfeld’s Department of Defense, in operational lead of the early Afghanistan effort.[1]
The September 12 speech
Within an hour of the September 11 attacks, Black stood on a chair outside his Counterterrorism Center office at CIA headquarters and addressed the hundreds of personnel gathered in front of him: “Today, we’re at war and we’re all going to have to fight. Not all of us are going to come home. So if you want to walk out now, walk out and no one will think less of you.” Kiriakou recalls one woman walking out — and her branch subsequently going to the deputy director for analysis to demand that she be removed.[3][4]
The post-9/11 budget
Days after the September 11 attacks, Kiriakou approached Black with an operational proposal and was given a now-emblematic response that captures the agency’s financial position in that period: “Whatever it is, just do it. I have so much money I can’t possibly spend it all.”[5][6]
Blackwater Vice Presidency
After leaving the CIA, Black became Vice President of Blackwater under Erik Prince — the senior former CIA officer in a board and executive team populated almost entirely by other former agency officers. His role at the company functioned as the operational interface between Blackwater and the CIA, including for the assassination program later shut down by Leon Panetta.[7]