Hamilton alumnus and former FBI agent Christopher Whitcomb '81 is the author of a new novel, Black (2004, Little Brown & Company). Publishers Weekly says: "Whitcomb (Cold Zer Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team) parlays the experiences and expertise of a 15-year career with the FBI into a cutting-edge counterterrorism thriller. Imaginative plotting, rock-solid prose, fascinating technology and blasts of furious action will hold readers hostage until the last surprising pages...This is a stellar thriller from an exciting new voice."
Whitcomb currently works as an on-air terrorism analyst for NBC News, speaks internationally on security and crisis-resolution matters, and writes on a freelance basis for several national publications.
Prior to leaving his position as a supervisory special agent at the FBI in 2001, Whitcomb investigated acts of terrorism, including the World Trade Center bombings in 1993 and the USS Cole attack in Aden, Yemen.
From 1991 to 1997, Whitcomb served on the Bureau's elite Hostage Rescue Team. There he distinguished himself as an assaulter, sniper, explosives expert, and tactical helicopter operations officer. He participated in some of the FBI's most controversial investigations, such as the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Texas, and the Randall Weaver shootings in Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
