Enrique “Ric” Prado is a paramilitary, counterterrorism, and special / clandestine operations specialist. Ric is a twenty-four-year veteran of the CIA, where he served as an operations officer in six overseas posts. He was deputy chief of station and “Plank Owner” of the original bin Ladin Task Force/Issues Station under senior analyst, Michael Scheuer, as well as chief of station in a hostile Muslim country.

Ric also served as chief of operations in the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center (CTC) during the September 11th attacks, where he helped coordinate CIA/CTC’s special operations activities with the National Security Council and FBI, as well as with elite U.S. military representatives from Delta Force and SEAL-Team Six, then detailed to CIA/CTC.  He retired as a Senior Intel Service-2, a major general rank equivalent within the CIA.

He is fluent in his native Spanish and once held a 2+ level in Japanese. He received the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal (the highest award given to a retiring operations officer), and the George Bush Medal for Excellence in Counterterrorism, among others. 

Ric’s memoir Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior is now a national Best Seller.