Michael Clarke

Michael Clarke is a Senior Advisor on Counter-terrorism & Organized Crime with thirty-one years of service in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and prior experience as a police officer. His expertise spans counterterrorism, organized crime, criminal and cyber investigations, violent and white-collar crime, tactical and special operations, police procedures, undercover operations, and complex financial investigations. Over the course of his career, he has led and participated in dozens of sensitive, multi-faceted international criminal investigations and has provided expert testimony in numerous judicial proceedings.

Clarke entered the FBI as a Special Agent in August 1988, beginning his Bureau career in the Atlanta Field Office, where he focused on organized crime and public corruption. He served as the primary undercover agent on multiple long-term FBI investigations and spent more than a decade as an Operator and Assistant Team Leader on the FBI Atlanta Division's SWAT Team.

In May 2001, he was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent and assigned to the San Juan Division, where he oversaw two FBI Resident Agencies. During this period, Clarke deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of FBI counterterrorism initiatives and international police training programs. He also completed additional overseas assignments in Haiti, Pakistan, Russia, and Jordan.

In 2005, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III selected Clarke to establish and lead the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Sofia, Bulgaria, with territorial responsibility for Albania, Macedonia, and Bulgaria. As the Head of Office (Legat), he supervised and initiated hundreds of foreign police cooperation matters and operational leads across all FBI priority programs throughout the Balkans.

Returning from overseas duty in 2008, Clarke reported to the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division in Washington, DC. He was subsequently promoted to Senior FBI Liaison Officer to the Joint Interagency Task Force South at U.S. Southern Command, where he focused on Department of Defense support to interagency operations in South and Central America.

In 2012, Clarke was selected as the lead FBI Case Agent for the investigation into the September 2012 attacks on the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans, including the U.S. Ambassador, were killed. For more than seven years, he directed a large-scale, complex investigation that led to the dismantlement of the Benghazi Attack Network and the successful capture and prosecution of key perpetrators. In recognition of his leadership, he received the 2018 Attorney General's Award and the 2020 FBI Director's Award.

Clarke holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Master's degree in Criminal Justice. He is also an FAA commercially rated single- and multi-engine pilot.