Veteran of CIA, K Street opens consulting firm

CIA officer and veteran K Streeter Mark D. Cowan is launching a new consulting firm.

The firm, Cowan Strategies, will use his political and industry contacts to facilitate trade around the world — helping U.S. corporations to break into foreign markets and advise businesses located overseas on how to begin selling products in America.

“I now want to bring my four decades of Washington and international experience, where the government meets the private sector, to a select group of companies who recognize the value in having that available to them,” Cowan said in a statement.

Though the firm’s offices will be based in Washington, Cowan said he will have senior executives scattered around the world.

{mosads}Cowan has worked for the highest-grossing lobby firms in Washington, including perennial earnings champ Patton Boggs, which pulled down $42 million in lobbying revenue last year.

Most recently, Cowan worked as a senior vice president at Cassidy and Associates, another top 10 K Street firm.

Last year, he was part of a Cassidy team that helped Objet, a 3-D printing company, complete a $3 billion merger with another manufacturer, Stratasys. Federal records show the company employed Cassidy and Associates for two months and paid them $300,000.

In addition to working in the Labor Department during the Reagan administration, Cowan was a political appointee in both Bush administrations, serving on panels advising the presidents on employment issues.

Cowan held senior counsel positions on the House Committee on Ethics and at the CIA, including working abroad as an operations officer and an assistant legislative counsel to the CIA director.