Counterterrorism and Strategy Advisor, U.S. Department of State
Mark Titus Hoover is the Counterterrorism and Strategy Advisor for the interagency Man-portable Air Defenses Systems Task Force, hosted within the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. This Task Force coordinates USG efforts to counter the illicit proliferation of these weapons. Previously, Hoover served for six years at the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations where he served in a variety of roles, including as Team Lead for issues related to political instability in central and eastern Africa. Hoover spent 6-12 months respectively in Chad, Cameroon, and Uganda helping advance diplomatic and programmatic efforts to understand and mitigate risks of political violence and religiously motivated violent extremism. Hoover also briefly served in the Central African Republic prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Hoover spent six months detailed to the U.S. Mission to the Holy See and four months with the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism Financing and Financial Crimes. Born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, Hoover is a fluent French speaker and has spoken varying levels of Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese, and Kiswahili. Hoover holds a BA from Wake Forest and a MA from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. Hoover joined the department as a civil servant in 2016 after being named a Presidential Management Fellow. Prior the State Department, Hoover worked at the Government Accountability Office, Wake Forest University’s Office of Admissions, and as a Fulbright Fellow to Andorra.