William R. Kotapish
William R. Kotapish is recognized throughout the Intelligence Community and the security profession as an outstanding instructor and public speaker. Over the years, he has appeared before countless audiences, large and small, in both Government and industry settings, with much success. He is also considered an extraordinary facilitator whose efforts in this field have been successful in clearance appeal cases, grievance cases and other similar disputes.
Mr. Kotapish served as a security careerist with the Central Intelligence Agency for 37 years where he performed overseas and domestic assignments in all four of the Agency’s Directorates. He was the CIA’s Director of Security from November 1979 to September 1985 and was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal for his achievements. Especially noteworthy was his creation of the Agency’s Security Protective Service, recognized today as an outstanding Federal Executive Branch police organization.
From late 1985 to 1989 Mr. Kotapish served with the National Intelligence Council as the National Intelligence Officer for Counternarcotics. In that role, he was effectively the voice of the Intelligence Community at senior policy making forums of the Executive Branch dealing with national initiatives against illegal drugs.
Mr. Kotapish joined TRW in 1989 as manager for Special Security Programs and later became Director of Security for a TRW space and defense company in Fairfax, VA. During his time at TRW, Mr. Kotapish served as the industry’s representative on the Personnel Security Committee of the National Security Policy Board.
Mr. Kotapish has been a consultant with Special Aerospace Security Services, Inc since 1999. His work has consisted of training course design, lecture preparation, and various speaking assignments in the fields of special security, personnel security, and security briefing techniques. He personally designed a full curriculum of security briefing presentations for employees and contractors of the CIA and the National Geospacial Intelligence Agency. Within his profession, Mr. Kotapish is considered one of the top motivational speakers in the country on the subject of security.
Mr. Kotapish received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Michigan. He has also pursued Doctoral level studies at George Washington University, where he has taught psychology classes.
Mr. Kotapish serves on NSTI's board of directors and can be seen teaching the:
- Security Presentation Skills Seminar