I am so incredibly tempted to call former CIA operative, Darrell M. Blocker an “International Man of Mystery” or “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. Unfortunately, these monikers would only turn Darrell’s actual amazing accomplishments into Hollywood-type slogans. His contributions to the clandestine service are very much real unlike those in a “Dos Equis” commercial. He’s got a list of achievements as long as a giant’s arm. He specializes in Counterterrorism, and was at one point the chief of the CIA operational training facility, chief of operations in the Africa division and much more. At the time of his retirement Darrell was the highest ranking most senior black officer in the CIA. Iris Elba is gonna play this guy in a movie some day.
Darrell M. Blocker normalizes and reshapes our perceptions of a CIA operative. Darrell does not call himself a “Spy” or a “Secret Agent” or say stuff like “I would tell ya but I’d have to kill ya”. He chuckles at all the fantastical anecdotes and imagery that we have all consumed regarding the mysterious world of the CIA. Darrell sees it as pure entertainment, and vastly different from his actual experience during his 28 year service in the Central Intelligence Agency. Like Liam Neeson, Darrell also has a particularly set of skills. Those skills are listening, hearing, observing, paying attention, not very sexy, but nonetheless skills that were vital to his survival in the espionage world.
