For a person who worked for 28 long years in the shadowy world of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, Ambassador J. Cofer Black is cut out to handle the job he holds in the State Department: Co-ordinator for Counter-terrorism. Here in Delhi last week to attend the sixth meeting of the Indo-US Joint Working Group on Counter-terrorism, Black took time off to meet V. Sudarshan. Guarded and circumspect, he ducked tough questions on Pakistan—saying these were political, and consequently beyond his brief. Yet Black conveyed India's inability to supply adequate information on incidents of cross-border terrorism to the US. Once the interview was over, the ambassador promptly relaxed and posed for our lensman. Excerpts from the interview: