Secretary Alexander Goodwin Pierce was one of HYDRA's leaders and its top undercover operative within the United States government. Following an incident in Bogotá, he lost faith in diplomacy and was recruited by HYDRA. By 1989, he became Undersecretary of the World Security Council and arranged for Werner Reinhardt's release from prison. Following his promotion to Secretary, he oversaw S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations and appointed Nick Fury as the organization's Director. By 2012, he had become the leader of HYDRA and made a personal visit to Stark Tower following the Battle of New York in order to reacquire the Tesseract and secure Loki's capture, although his efforts were thwarted. In 2014, he conspired to use Project Insight to give HYDRA absolute control over Earth, and with the Winter Soldier under his control, ordered the assassinations of Fury, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. During the battle at the Triskelion, Pierce was forced to witness as Project Insight was destroyed by the efforts of Captain America, Falcon and Maria Hill. As the HYDRA Uprising began, Pierce killed most of the other members of the World Security Council and attempted to kill Romanoff, although he was killed by Fury before he could succeed.