Robert Baer

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Robert Baer : biography

July 1, 1952 –

Baer wrote the book See No Evil documenting his experiences while working for the Agency. The C.I. Desk: FBI and CIA Counterintelligence As Seen From My Cubicle, by Christopher Lynch (Dog Ear Publishing), describes parts of the contentious CIA pre-publication review process for Baer’s first book. In a blurb for See No Evil Seymour Hersh said Baer "was considered perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East." In the book, Baer offers an analysis of the Middle East through the lens of his experiences as a CIA operative.

Through his years as a clandestine officer, he gained a very thorough knowledge of the Middle East, Arab world and former Republics of the Soviet Union. Over the years, Baer has become a strong advocate of the Agency’s need to increase Human Intelligence (HUMINT) through the recruitment of agents. Baer, long a supporter of the theory that the PFLP-GC brought down Pan Am Flight 103, has recently begun to promote the theory that Iran was behind the bombing.

In 2004, he told a reporter of the British political weekly New Statesman, regarding the way the CIA deals with terrorism suspects, "If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Jordan. If you want someone to disappear, you send them to Egypt, where you will never see them again."

Footnotes

Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American political writers Category:American spies Category:Books about the Central Intelligence Agency Category:Cold War spies Category:Counter-insurgency theorists Category:Counter-terrorism Category:Counter-terrorism theorists Category:Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Category:Espionage historians Category:Guerrilla warfare theorists Category:Historians of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:Post–Cold War spies Category:Psychological warfare theorists Category:Terrorism theorists Category:War on Terror Category:1952 births Category:Living people

Lockerbie bombing

On 23 August 2009, Robert Baer claimed that the CIA had known from the start that the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 had been orchestrated by Iran, and that a secret dossier proving this was to be presented as evidence in the final appeal by convicted Libyan bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. According to Baer, this suggests that Megrahi’s withdrawal of the appeal in return for a release on compassionate grounds was encouraged to prevent this information from being presented in court.

Publications

Books

  • See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism, Crown Publishing Group, January 2002, ISBN 0-609-60987-4.
  • Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude, Crown Publishing Group, July 2003, ISBN 1-4000-5021-9.
  • , Crown Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 1-4000-9835-1.
  • , Crown Publishing Group, September 2008 ISBN 0-307-40864-7
  • , Crown Publishing Group, March 8, 2011

Articles

  • , The Guardian Unlimited, January 12, 2002.
  • with Frontline, March 22, 2002.
  • with Buzzflash.com, September 12, 2003.
  • with Chud.com, November 20, 2005.
  • June 20, 2006
  • , July 5, 2006
  • , The Atlantic, May 2003
  • , Time, February 5, 2008
  • , Time, February 13, 2008.
  • Link TV
  • with Terry Gross – Fresh Air, October 2, 2008.
  • , Time, November 18, 2008.
  • , Time, June 18, 2009.
  • , Time, July 27, 2009.
  • , Time, October 28, 2009.
  • , Time, January 8, 2010.
  • , Time, January 26, 2010.
  • , Time, October 12, 2011

Films

  • listing films and TV interviews
  • Syriana

Books and media

Baer’s books See No Evil and Sleeping with the Devil were the basis for the 2005 Academy Award-winning Warner Brothers motion picture Syriana. The film’s character Bob Barnes (played by George Clooney) is loosely based on Baer. For this role, Clooney won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. To better resemble Baer, Clooney gained weight. When Baer learned of this, he was inspired to get back into shape.