Ambassador Black has had a distinguished 30-year career in the U.S. Government. He served 28 years in the Directorate of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency. As Director of the CIA Counterterrorist Center over the 9/11 period he conceived, planned, and led the CIA projection into Afghanistan and the Presidentially mandated worldwide engagement against Al- Qaeda. Subsequently, he was appointed to the Department of State at the Assistant Secretary level as Coordinator for Counterterrorism with the rank of Ambassador at Large.

According to reports, when Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he believed that Russia would be at the gates of Kyiv in a matter of days. After months and months of war, there is no sign of a Russian victory. Indeed, the war’s unintended consequences – in terms of sanctions, economic decline, military defeats, renewed western resolve, and galvanized Ukrainian national identity – indicate the invasion has proven a colossal and epoch-defining mistake.  Putin’s crackdown on Russian society may have cemented his grip on power within Russia, but he rules over a diminished nation. There is no clear exit from this geopolitical catastrophe—one that could damage Russian power and prospects even more than the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Gordon Chang, author of numerous books, newspaper and magazine articles, lived and worked in China, Hong Kong and Singapore for almost two decades. He has given briefings at the National Intelligence Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and the Pentagon. Chang appears on all the major TV news networks and speaks before industry and investor groups ​around the world.