Robert Baer

Many people know Robert Baer as an author, but Baer is more than this as he was also a CIA Case Officer in the Middle East before turning to pen and paper to build a strong writing career. To Baer is seen as a pivotal and knowledgeable writer and commentator on espionage and intelligence within the writing and media world and all this stems from his time in the CIA.

Many of you will know of Robert Baer and many may not, but today you will find out more about this great man than you ever knew.

The Robert Baer Early Years

While born in LA, Baer was actually brought up in Aspen, Colorado. As a young boy Baer took a liking to skiing and wished to become a professional skier when he was older, this may have been helped by regular time in Europe with his mum.

In his early education Baer did not perform to the standard his family were expecting so his mother took drastic action and sent him to the Culver Military Academy in Indiana. Here Baer started to excel and moved forward by graduating the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the University of California.

Once out of education Baer decided that a career in the CIA was what he wanted and gained employment in the CIA.

Robert Baer in the CIA

Baer started his CIA career in the Directorate of Operations where he was a case officer. During his time in the CIA as a case officer Baer found himself sent to every theatre of conflict and espionage in the world but it was the Middle East where Baer found his niche.

While we know of where Baer has been, the actual work he carried out in these places is still classified. What we do know is Baer has been in India, Lebanon, Tajikistan, Morocco and Iraqi Kurdistan.

By travelling to these far flung places Baer also became fluent in Arabic, French, German, Persian whilst also being able to hold conversations in many other languages from the theatres he was based.

The most well known mission Baer was involved in that we do know about was his time in Iraq, this was in the early to mid 1990’s when he was based in the Iraqi Kurdistan area of Northern Iraq in a city called Salah ad Din. Here Baer gained the confidence of senior Sunni Military Officers who wished to gain American support in overthrowing Saddam Hussein unfortunately Baer could not gain interest in support from the Clinton led government.

By 1997, after 21 years in the CIA service Baer retired from the CIA gaining the Career Intelligence Medal in doing so.

Robert Bauer the Writer and Commentator

Bauer has found himself a great career outside the closed doors of the CIA, but this is a career that has also garnered him trouble and inflammatory comments.

Bauer started his writing career by penning a great book called See No Evil about his time in the CIA. After this he found himself flung into the media storm after the 9/11 atrocities at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Some 5 years after 9/11 Bauer found himself still being interviewed about possible American involvement and he is known to have said there is a possibility. Baer has also gone on to say that the Americans have had proven information that remains top secret about other atrocities such as the Lockerbie bombing.

Since See No Evil Bauer has published another four books entitled: Sleeping with the devil, Blow the house down, The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower and The Company We Keep: A Husband-and-Wife True-Life Spy Story. Bauer has also gone on to write many magazine articles and presented some fact based documentaries.

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