Michael G. Vickers PhD - Part 1 - Memoirs of Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy

Interview of Friday, 9 June 2023 of Michael Vickers, former CIA Operations Officer and Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. Host and Interviewer: James Hughes, AFIO President, a former Senior CIA Operations Officer.
TOPIC: Mike Vickers and Jim Hughes discuss Mike's remarkable covert operations, strategy, and policy roles up to his senior leadership in DOD as covered in his new memoir: By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy.
The interview runs 42 minutes and includes several Q&As.
Purchase a copy of "By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy" here
www.amazon.com/All-Means-Avai...
The AFIO Now video series in 2023 is sponsored by Northwest Financial Advisors at www.nwfllc.com.
BIOS:
MICHAEL G. VICKERS PhD has served multiple roles in the Department of Defense and the intelligence community, most recently as undersecretary of defense for intelligence under President Barack Obama. He also served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as the assistant secretary of defense for special operations, low-intensity conflict, and interdependent capabilities, where he had policy oversight of all U.S. military capabilities, from nuclear weapons to special operations forces. During the Cold War, he served as an operations officer in the CIA, and as both a commissioned and a noncommissioned officer in the Army’s Special Forces. Dr. Vickers has received the nation’s highest awards in the fields of intelligence and defense, including the Presidential National Security Medal and the OSS Society’s William J. Donovan Award. He holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. from the University of Alabama. He lives near Washington, D.C.
JAMES R. HUGHES currently serves as the 17th President of AFIO. His service began January 2015. He had a career of US Government service spanning 37 years in numerous foreign countries with a particular focus in the Middle East. He started in U.S. Military Intelligence in the late 1960s and then joined the CIA’s Clandestine Service. He served overseas as a Chief of Station several times, and at CIA Headquarters in a number of senior management positions, including as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division, in the Directorate of Operations [today’s National Clandestine Service]. He was also named the Associate Deputy Director of Operations (ADDO) at the National Security Agency, 1998-99. Following his retirement from the government in 2005, he joined EDS in Herndon, VA, as the Client Industry Executive for the U.S. Intelligence Community. After the HP acquisition of EDS, he continued to serve in a similar capacity until his retirement in 2012. His parents were missionaries in Turkey in the 1950s, where Jim spent his formative years. He is fluent in Arabic.
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[@ronfurg]

What a fascinating interview! I loved being able to gain insight into the Agency's Special Ops through Mr. Vickers' extensive experience. The pace of the interview and Vickers' masterful description of events made this one of my favorites on this channel. Bravo Zulu to AFIO.

[@AFIOVideos]

Our pleasure!

[@donalddenton8135]

A fascinating interview. An excellent illustration of effectiveness of counter-insurgency operations. Great to hear the success stories.

[@AFIOVideos]

Many thanks!