"The following day, as I was reading through my cables, I looked up from my computer to find a very unkempt individual, about 20 years my senior with bushy eyebrows and a dirty, wispy looking mustache hovering over me, in essence, violating my personal space. He introduced himself as Aldrich Ames, the individual planning the conference which I had refused to sign off on the day before."
"Sometime, though, in mid 1993, a memo came across my desk from a desk officer in the CIA's Counter Narcotics Center (CNC) proposing a senior level CNC conference in that part of the world that I worked. I felt strongly there were security risks associated with the gathering that did not justify agency participation. I was also concerned that the host country could not adequately address the conference logistics. I documented my concerns, did not sign off,"
"Sure, I was in the earlier stages of my career but by then I had an undergraduate and graduate degree in Soviet Studies. I studied in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I wrote my master's thesis on the role of women in Uzbek politics"
I was a mid-level CIA analyst covering Caucasus and Central Asian issues in the 1990s. My responsibilities included reviewing agency participation in regional conferences, ensuring the environment was conducive, and identifying potential threats. In mid-1993 I declined to sign off on a senior Counter Narcotics Center conference because of security risks and concerns about the host country's logistics. I documented my objections and moved on. The next day Aldrich Ames confronted me in my office, berating me and invading my personal space. I held undergraduate and graduate degrees in Soviet Studies and field experience in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Read at The Cipher Brief
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