Virtual Spy Chat with Chris Costa

Join us for an online discussion of the latest intelligence, national security, and terrorism issues in the news. Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa will lead the briefing. Costa a former intelligence officer of 34 years with 25 of those in active duty in hot spots such as Panama, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq is also a past Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council. He will be joined by Ambassador Nathan A. Sales who recently served as the Acting Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights at the US Department of State. 

In that role, Sales oversaw nine bureaus and offices led by Senate-confirmed principals with the mission of preventing and countering threats to civilian security, including terrorism, mass atrocities, and violations of human rights and the rule of law. Concurrently, Sales served as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism. He served as the principal adviser to the Secretary of State on international counterterrorism matters and led the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau. He was also the Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS leading US relations with the 83-member Coalition and the effort to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS in the Middle East and around the world. 

Sales was the architect of the landmark 2017 UN Security Council Resolution 2396 on terrorist travel and sanctions and successfully pressed NATO to make counterterrorism a core Alliance mission. He led diplomatic engagements to persuade a dozen key partners in Europe and the Americas to designate Hizballah as a terrorist organization in its entirety. Sales launched the Western Hemisphere Counterterrorism Ministerial, in which heads of state and minister-level officials meet bianually to coordinate efforts against terrorist threats in the region. He led the US government’s international efforts to combat white supremacist terrorism. Sales previously was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the US Department of Homeland Security. He also served at the Office of Legal Policy at the US Department of Justice, where he worked on regulatory initiatives, counterterrorism, and judicial confirmations. Sales is presently a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council focusing on counterterrorism, security, democracy and the rule of law, and human rights.

Following their discussion of key issues, you’ll be able to ask questions via our online platform. 

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