Chris Voss | Consultant
Chris Voss is a Triad consultant, a retired 24 year veteran of the FBI, and is a seasoned negotiator, teacher and leader. He has led negotiation teams across the globe, from Baghdad to Bogotá. Chris is also the founder of The Black Swan Group.
Chris was a member of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) for seven years. As a full time negotiator Chris designed, implemented and managed negotiations with hostage takers, both domestically and internationally.
Chris was trained as an FBI hostage negotiator in 1992, and by 2003 was the FBI's lead international kidnapping negotiator (from 2003 to 2007). His adversaries were the ultimate in “difficult negotiators” – terrorists, drug lords, and guerilla groups, each pursuing their interests and causes via violence. Chris is trained by the FBI, Scotland Yard (the London Metropolitan Police) and Harvard Law School. He also served as a member of the negotiation teaching staff at Harvard Law School in 2008.
Chris was also one of the primary instructors and designers of the FBI’s National Crisis Negotiation Course, run several times annually at FBI Headquarters in Quantico, VA. He and his colleagues recruited, trained and organized a 90 person team of FBI negotiators ready to deploy anywhere on the globe, on short notice, to respond to kidnappings of Americans internationally. Chris led this team, integrating their efforts with those of numerous US and international host country agencies.
Chris also served as the FBI’s hostage negotiation subject matter expert for the National Security Council's Hostage Working Group and the US hostage negotiation expert to the G-8.
Chris was a member of the New York City Joint Terrorist Task Force for 14 years (from 1986 – 2000) and the lead Negotiator for the FBI in New York City. Chris is a recipient of the Attorney General's Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement and the FBI Agents Association Award for Distinguished and Exemplary Service.
Chris has served as the Chair of the Board of Help Line, a crisis intervention hot line in New York City founded by Norman Vincent Peale. He recently completed a mid-career Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In his spare time he rides his Harley up and down the coast looking for damsels in distress, and lives aboard his boat in Washington DC with his college-age son.