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Gary Noesner is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) negotiator, author, and consultant. He served in the FBI for over three decades and was the first person to hold the position of Chief of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU), where he led hostage and crisis negotiation efforts throughout the United States and internationally. After retiring from the FBI in 2003, Noesner became a senior executive and consultant in risk management and continues to speak and advise on negotiation, crisis management, and leadership. He is the author of the memoir Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator.¹²³

Details of Noesner’s early life and formal education are not widely documented in independent secondary sources. According to an interview, his interest in the FBI began early in life after seeing a segment about the Bureau on television.⁴

Noesner joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation and served for more than 30 years as an investigator, instructor, and negotiator. He spent 23 of those years as an FBI hostage negotiator and was the head of the Bureau’s Crisis Negotiation Unit, part of the Critical Incident Response Group at Quantico, Virginia.¹²³

As head of the Crisis Negotiation Unit, Noesner and his team were involved in numerous high‑profile domestic and international incidents, including prison riots, militia standoffs, religious siege events, terrorist incidents, and kidnapping cases involving American citizens. He played a key role in the development and expansion of negotiation policies and training within the FBI.¹²³

In a 2016 interview for The Trace, Noesner described negotiations during the 1993 standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, where FBI negotiators successfully secured the release of multiple hostages before the conflict escalated.¹

After retiring from the FBI in 2003, Noesner became a Senior Vice President with the international risk consultancy Control Risks, where he assisted clients in managing overseas kidnapping and crisis incidents. He later established his own consulting practice and frequently speaks at law enforcement conferences, corporate events, and academic institutions on negotiation, crisis management, and communication.¹²

Noesner has appeared in numerous television documentaries about hostage negotiation, terrorism, and kidnapping produced by networks including the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, CNN, BBC, and others. He has also been featured in print media interviews and profiles, including Forbes, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Newsweek.¹

In 2010, Noesner published his memoir, Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator, through the Penguin Random House publishing group. The book recounts his experiences in some of the most notable crisis incidents of the late 20th century, such as the Waco siege and the D.C. sniper attacks, and reflects on the development of negotiation techniques within law enforcement. Reviews highlighted its insider perspective on negotiation strategy and FBI history.¹³

The book was later released in paperback and audiobook editions and has been cited in discussions of its adaptation into a dramatized miniseries about the Waco events.¹³

Noesner has delivered lectures at universities, law enforcement training academies, and professional conferences. In 2010, he was the subject of an hour‑long interview on NPR’s Fresh Air, where he discussed his career and negotiation philosophy.²

He has also provided expert analysis and commentary on television news programs and documentaries addressing crisis negotiation, public safety, and hostage resolution strategies.¹

• Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator (2010)^[1]

Category:American memoirists Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Category:20th-century American writers Category:21st-century American writers