Darrell Blocker

Darrell M. Blocker is a former American intelligence officer who served for 28 years with the Central Intelligence Agency. He held prominent positions including deputy director of the Counterterrorism Center (CTC), Chief of Africa Division, and Chief of Training at Camp Peary, Virginia, better known as "The Farm". Within the intelligence community, Blocker was known for participating in a number of semi-professional musical ensembles during his postings abroad. He retired in 2018 as the most senior black officer in the CIA's Directorate of Operations. Since 2019 Blocker has been chief operating officer of intelligence and advisory firm MOSAIC, and a contributor for ABC News.

In November 2020, Fox News reported that president-elect Joe Biden had included Blocker among his shortlist of candidates to nominate for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; in the end, the position went to William J. Burns.

Early life Blocker grew up in Hephzibah, Georgia, in an Air Force family. While growing up he also lived in Japan, Italy, Texas, and Augusta, Georgia. He then attended the University of Georgia, where he sang in a church choir and was part of the glee club, in addition to serving in Air Force ROTC. Blocker wrote his CIA entrance essay about the First Palestinian Intifada, and concluded that: "every nation in history that has fought and won actual territory, actual ground, them giving it back — it just hasn’t happened." He began playing music as part of his espionage duties in Senegal in 1996. While undercover in Uganda, Blocker became a minor celebrity as lead singer in a popular local band in the capital city of Kampala, known as the "Kampala Jazz All-Stars".

He began learning about Judaism while he was in college, and began wearing a chai as a pendant.

He also consults on projects in the entertainment industry, including for MGM and Skydance on season 2 of CONDOR, a television adaptation of Six Days of the Condor by James Grady, which features a young CIA analyst as the primary protagonist.

Blocker also serves on the board of nonprofits Peace4Kids and HumanSlavery.com, organizations dedicated to improving the future of youth in foster care, and ending human trafficking and exploitation, respectively.