Fred Burton is one of the world's foremost authorities on security, high-net-worth protection and terrorism. He the Vice-President of Intelligence at Stratfor and oversees their analysis of global security developments and consults with clients on security-related issues affecting their business assets or personal safety. He also guides Stratfor's extensive coverage of the security environment in Mexico and closely monitors Mexican drug cartels, their areas of influence and their drug trafficking routes.

Before joining Stratfor, Burton was a counterterrorism agent with the U.S. State Department from 1985 to 1999.  During his career, Burton was involved in many high-profile investigations including:

• The search for Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing, resulting in his arrest.
• The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
• The killing of Rabbi Meir Kahane and al Qaeda's New York City bombing plots before 9/11.
• Libyan-backed terrorist attacks against diplomats in Sanaa and Khartoum.
• The deaths of U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Arnold Raphel and Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.

Burton was deputy chief of counterterrorism at the Diplomatic Security Service, where he was in charge of preventing and investigating attacks against diplomatic personnel and facilities. While a Stratfor analyst, he was appointed to the Border Security Council and served as the Assistant Director for Intelligence & Counterterrorism at the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Burton is the author of four books, including the best-selling memoir, GHOST: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent (Random House, 2008), in which he tells the story of his role in the fight against the burgeoning terrorist threat in the 1980s and beyond. His second book, Chasing Shadows: A Special Agent's Lifelong Hunt to Bring a Cold War Assassin to Justice (Palgrave, 2011), follows his 35-year quest to solve the case of an Israeli diplomat assassinated in Burton's childhood neighborhood. His latest book, Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi (St. Martin's, 2013), is a New York Times and Los Angeles Times best-seller and provides the first detailed account of the infamous assault in Libya in September, 2012.  Under Fire has been optioned to HBO Films.  His new book Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America will be published by Berkley October 23, 2018.  

Burton has been featured as a terrorism and security expert in numerous media outlets, including ABC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Show, NBC's The Today Show, CBS's The Early Show, Coast-to-Coast AM, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, NPR, Al Jazeera English, FOX News and The Financial Times.

He has spoken at The Clinton School of Public Service, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the World Affairs Council, YPO, Business Executives for National Security Affairs, the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, and for many other public and private organizations.