Ray McGovern

Raymond McGovern (born August 25, 1939) is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer turned political activist.[1] McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, and in the 1980s chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief. He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, returning it in 2006 to protest the CIA's involvement in torture.[2] McGovern's post-retirement work includes commenting for Consortium News, RT, and Sputnik News, among other outlets, on intelligence and foreign policy issues. In 2003 he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

For the New York politician, see J. Raymond McGovern.
McGovern in 2015

Personal life

Ray McGovern was born and grew up in the Bronx, New York City. With a scholarship he earned a M.A. with honours in Russian Language, Literature and History at Fordham University, and in the early 1960s served as a U.S. Army infantry intelligence officer in the analysis division on Soviet foreign policy, especially with respect to China and Indochina.[3]

McGovern is married to Rita Kennedy; the couple have five children and eight grandchildren.[4]

Career

McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years (April 1963 to August 1990), serving seven U.S. presidents.[5] His CIA career began under President John F. Kennedy, and lasted through the presidency of George H. W. Bush.[6] McGovern chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, and in the mid-1980s was a senior analyst conducting early-morning briefings one-on-one with the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the assistant to the president for national security.[7]

At his retirement in 1990, McGovern received the CIA's Intelligence Commendation Medal.[2][7] He returned the medal in 2006.[8]

Activism

Intelligence activism
McGovern, 2008

After retiring from the CIA, McGovern became a commentator on intelligence-related issues from the late 1990s onwards.[9] He was heavily critical of the government's handling of the Wen Ho Lee case in 2000.[10] In 2002, he was publicly critical of President George W. Bush's use of government intelligence in the lead-up to the war in Iraq.[11]

In 2003, together with other former CIA employees, McGovern founded the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).[12] The organization is dedicated to analyzing and criticizing the use of intelligence, at first concerning the Iraq War.[2]

In the same year, McGovern confronted Donald Rumsfeld openly and live-broadcast by CNN interrogating him about his lies concerning weapons of mass destruction,[13] a dispute later called the "vivisection of Donald Rumsfeld" by Keith Olbermann.[14]

In January 2006, McGovern began speaking out on behalf of the anti-war group Not in Our Name. According to the group's press release, McGovern served symbolic "war crimes indictments" on the Bush White House from a "people's tribunal."

In 2006, McGovern returned his Intelligence Commendation Medal in protest at the CIA's involvement in torture.[2] He commented, corruption had run amok in intelligence circles and the president should be impeached.[15]

On October 9, 2013, McGovern, along with three former winners, gave the Sam Adams Award for integrity in intelligence to Edward Snowden in a Moscow ceremony.[16][17]

In September 2015, McGovern and 27 other members of VIPS steering group wrote a letter to president Barack Obama challenging a recently published book, that claimed to rebut the report of the United States Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA's use of torture.

Arrests

During a 2011 speech at George Washington University (GW) by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, McGovern stood with his back turned during her remarks, blocking the view of some of the audience and media for about five minutes in "silent protest" of Clinton's foreign policy.[18][19] McGovern refused to cooperate when asked to leave by security, which led to his arrest for disorderly conduct.[18] The incident led to his inclusion on the State Department's "be on the lookout" (BOLO) list, which authorizes law enforcement to stop and question him on sight.[19] The charges were subsequently dropped two weeks later. In 2014, McGovern's lawyer filed a lawsuit against the GW police department for allegedly using excessive force and also against the university and State Department for allegedly violating his right to peacefully protest.[19]

In 2014, McGovern was arrested by the New York City police department at an event where former CIA director and retired Army General David Petraeus was giving a speech. McGovern said he wanted to ask Petraeus about his involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but security told him he was not welcome.[20] He claimed he had a ticket to the event, but was charged for resisting arrest and criminal trespassing.[21]

On May 9, 2018, McGovern was one of several protesters who disrupted the Senate confirmation hearing of Gina Haspel to become CIA director. After he began yelling about waterboarding, McGovern was forcibly removed by Capitol Police and charged with disruption and resisting arrest.[22][23][24]

Views

Vietnam War

The CIA knew about the flimsy evidence of a second attack in the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The CIA was ordered by a deputy director not to inform the congress, and McGeorge Bundy, by his own admission, was obliged to sign the official declaration of the LBJ administration.

According to Ray McGovern the CIA advised LBJ strongly against the proposals of Air Force generals to bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail which the CIA knew was not suitable for block transport of weapons and movement of troops on the 160 trails into South Vietnam and not able to weaken the North Vietnamese communists' resistance.[25]

Pope John Paul II

A Catholic from birth,[26] McGovern was highly critical of Pope John Paul II conservative stance on women's rights in church. He saw the former Pope as a repressive force. McGovern had been teaching Sunday school and earned a certificate in theology from Georgetown University. He participated in Cursillo, and was district president of Bread for the City, but by standing during mass for several weeks he protested against the teaching on sex roles and sexual ethics which to him seemed oppressive.[27]

Iraq War

In a television interview with Tucker Carlson on MSNBC in 2006, McGovern said: "I've been using the acronym O.I.L. for many—for two years now: O for oil; I for Israel; and L for logistics, logistics being the permanent—now we say "enduring"—military bases that the U.S. wants to keep in Iraq."[28]

McGovern testified at a Democratic National Headquarters forum in 2005 that had been convened by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) of the House Judiciary Committee on the Downing Street memo.

The Washington Post reported in 2005 that, in his testimony, McGovern "declared that the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration neocons so 'the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world.'" He said that Israel should not be considered an ally and that Bush was doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. 'Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation,' McGovern said. Genuine criticism of official Israeli policy is often portrayed as if it were anti-semitism: 'The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-semitic.'"[29]

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden

When asked in 2010 on TVNZ whether Julian Assange was a hero or villain, he replied "hero".[30] When asked the same year whether Julian Assange was a journalist, he replied to the CNN reporter: "Yeah, actually, with all due respect, I think you should be following his example."[31] In 2010, he co-wrote an open letter of support for WikiLeaks and Assange, with Coleen Rowley, Lawrence Wilkerson, Craig Murray and others.[32]

In 2013, he travelled with Rowley, Thomas A. Drake and Jesselyn Radack to Russia to present Edward Snowden with the award of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence.[33]

Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election

McGovern holds a position that the theft of the DNC emails was an inside job, and not the work of Russian agents (contrary to the findings published by the US intelligence community).[34] In his view, the metadata in the files released by Guccifer 2.0 (whom the US intelligence community identifies as a Russian military intelligence operation) has been manipulated to show that the documents came from Russia, where in fact according to this theory they originated from a computer in the Eastern United States. McGovern subsequently released a VIPS report in support of his theory. Many of the VIPS members however, did not sign the report and expressed a view that the inside job theory itself is a disinformation campaign run by a pro-Kremlin hacker Tim Leonard who lives in the UK.[35]

Publications

Book chapters

References
  1. Smith, Patrick (7 February 2016). "Intelligent people know that the empire is on the downhill: A veteran CIA agent spills the goods on the Deep State and our foreign policy nightmares". Salon.
  2. Ambika Behal, United Press International, 10 March 2006, The U.S. has run amok; former CIA analyst
  3. "Bio – Ray McGovern". raymcgovern.com.
  4. "Militarism and Foreign Policy – Page 29 – WESPAC Foundation". wespac.org.
  5. Dan Chapman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7 December 2003, Q & A / Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst: 'We're trying to spread a little truth'
  6. Die Tageszeitung, 30 October 2013, „Obamas Angst vor Geheimdiensten“
  7. Donald P. Russo, The Morning Call, 13 May 2006, No shortage of evidence that Bush is slipping
  8. "Ray McGovern | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  9. Ray McGovern, "How lies replaced intelligence at the CIA," Boston Globe (7 October 1999) p. A 27; Ray McGovern, "Protecting the homeland: Don't jeopardize intelligence links," Christian Science Monitor (15 July 2002) p.9.
  10. Ray McGovern, "Unequal in the eyes of justice?," Christian Science Monitor (18 September 2000) p. 11.
  11. Ray McGovern, "The best intelligence? CIA." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (22 November 2002) p. 19A; Ray McGovern, "How Intelligence Now Serves the Defense Department," Boston Globe (29 September 2002) p. D11.
  12. Andy Worthington (2015-09-15). "28 Veterans of US Intelligence Fight Back Against CIA Claims That the Bush Torture Program Was Useful and Necessary". Archived from the original on 2015-09-28.
  13. Kall, Rob (2011-02-17). "Former CIA Agent Ray McGovern Discusses Arrest at Secretary Clinton's Internet Freedom Speech". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  14. "'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for May 4". msnbc.com. 2006-05-05. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  15. "The U.S. has run amok; former CIA analyst". UPI. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  16. Sputnik. "Snowden Has Secret Moscow Meeting with US Leakers". en.ria.ru.
  17. "TheWikiLeaksChannel". YouTube.
  18. Anand, Priya (February 17, 2011). "Protester arrested during Clinton speech". The GW Hatchet. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  19. Gurciullo, Brianna (March 3, 2014). "Man who protested 2011 Clinton speech sues UPD officers for excessive force". The GW Hatchet. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  20. "Former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern Details Painful Arrest at Petraeus Event". Democracy Now!. November 4, 2014. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  21. Tracy, Thomas (November 2, 2014). "Former CIA analyst arrested after trying to crash event with David Petraeus". NY Daily News. Retrieved March 27, 2017.
  22. Samuels, Brett (May 9, 2018). "Rubio responds to protester who interrupted Haspel hearing". thehill.com. The Hill. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  23. TheRealNews (May 9, 2018). "Police Brutalize 78-Year-Old CIA Whistleblower Protesting at Torturer Gina Haspel's Senate Hearing". Youtube.com. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  24. Carden, James (2018-05-17). "Ray McGovern on Gina Haspel, Torture, and His Recent Arrest". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  25. "No President has lied so baldly and so often and so demonstrably". The Independent. 2003-11-09. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  26. Smith, Patrick J. (February 14, 2016). "This is how the CIA botched Iraq post-9/11: Bob Gates, careerist sycophancy, and the real history of the Deep State". Salon. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  27. Naughton, Jim (August 25, 1996). "A HOUSE DIVIDED". The Washington Post.
  28. "'The Situation with Tucker Carlson' for May 4". 5 May 2006.
  29. Milbank, Dana (2005-06-17). "Democrats Play House To Rally Against the War". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  30. Mike Hosking, Ray McGovern (December 10, 2010). "Interview on TVNZ about Julian Assange and Wikileaks". Close Up. TV NZ.
  31. Don Lemon, Ray McGovern (December 12, 2010). "Metrodome Roof Collapse; Lure of the Outsider; WikiLeaks War; Christmas in Washington; Sarah Palin in Haiti; Dream Act in Jeopardy; Atlanta Cheating Scandal". CNN Newsroom (video). CNN. Transcript.
  32. Ellsberg, Daniel; Grevil, Frank; Gun, Katharine; MacMichael, David; McGovern, Ray; Murray, Craig; Rowley, Coleen; Wilkerson, Larry (December 8, 2010), "Ex-Intelligence Officers, Others See Plusses in WikiLeaks Disclosures", Daniel Ellsberg's Website, retrieved March 27, 2017
  33. ""Edward Snowden is a Patriot": Ex-NSA CIA, FBI and Justice Whistleblowers Meet Leaker in Moscow". Democracy Now!. 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  34. Sheffield, Matthew (September 17, 2017). "Was the DNC hack an inside job? It's a hot theory — but probably not". Salon. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  35. Campbell, Duncan (July 31, 2018). "Briton ran pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign that helped Trump deny Russian links". Computer Weekly. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
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