From the Vault: "Black Ops: The Life of a Legendary CIA Shadow Warrior" - with Ric Prado

Jan 3, 2023

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Summary

Enrique “Ric” Prado (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (Twitter; LinkedIn) to discuss his new memoir “Black Ops.” One of the most renowned CIA officers of his generation tells his story.

Book

You can buy Ric’s book, Black Ops, and support the International Spy Museum’s mission here.

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

His time as CIA Counterterrorist Chief of Operations which included 9/11
His career battling communist insurgents and Islamic terrorists on multiple continents
His experience living in “Contra” camps during the Nicaraguan Revolution
His time as Dep. Chief of Station and co-founding member of the Bin Laden Task Force

Reflections

Conquering your emotions to stay focused in a crisis
His journey fleeing the Cuban Revolution as a young boy to CIA via USAF Pararescue

And much, much more…

Episode Notes

Ric Prado spent twenty-four-years in the CIA – and what a twenty-four years it was. His first 36 months were in the jungles of Central America as the first CIA officer to live among the “Contras,” including a period with the Miskito Native people; indeed, the photos he took ending up on the desk of CIA Director Bill Casey. So, what was it like at the pointy end of the Reagan Doctrine’s anti-communist spear, or as CIA Counterterrorist Center Chief of Ops during 9/11?

To find out, and to hear more about Ric’s storied career, Andrew sat down with him for this week’s episode. One of the meanings of the noun “legend” is “a story coming down from the past.” Many people who were in the business at the CIA and elsewhere will have heard the stories that come down from the past re Enrique “Ric” Prado, but now we all have a chance to hear Ric set the record straight in his own words.

And…

If Ric’s communist uncle hadn’t alerted the family that his school intended to send him off to the Soviet Union as a promising student for further education…if he hadn’t taken an Oceanography class at Miami Dade College and met someone who led him to USAF Pararescue…if he hadn’t been tipped off that he was to be killed in a Contra camp during the night and extricated himself from the situation…as Bob Dylan said, summing up so much of the human condition, “one more time, for a simple twist of fate.”

Quote of the Week

"The wiring was there and the mentoring from my dad…then the trip to the orphanage. And then definitely when I got into pararescue…being one of our special operations forces, the training is very, very intense…And making it through SERE school, making it through mountain climbing school. There's a certain level of conquering your emotions that you have to do…But I think that the most important thing was that I believed in what I was doing." – Ric Prado

Resources

SpyCast Episodes

Books

The Reagan Doctrine, J. Scott (DUP, 1996)
The Real Contra War, T. Brown (UOP, 2001)
Insurgency to Stability, “The Philippines,” Rabasa et al., (RAND, 2011)
Shining Path’s Politics of War, C. Degregori (UWP, 2012)
Red Revolution: Philippine Guerillas, G. Jones (Routeledge, 2019)
The Shining Path, Starn & Serna (Norton, 2019)
US Relations with Latin America (Five Books)

Articles

“Shining Path Leader Dead,” BBC (2021)
“Nicaragua Veers to Dictatorship,” J. Cordoba, WSJ (2021)

Documentaries

Nicaragua Was Our Home (L. Shapiro, 1985)
Ballad of the Little Soldier (W. Herzog, 1985)

Primary Sources

President Carter to Somoza (Brown, 1979)
Reagan Covert Ops. Nicaragua (NSA, 1981)
US Aid to Nicaragua (1982)
Reagan Covert Ops. Nicaragua (Brown, 1983)
Goldwater to Casey, “I’m Pissed Off” (Brown, 1984)
Reagan State Of The Union (APP, 1985)
Reagan Address Nicaragua (ReaganLib, 1986)
Contras Lost Congress (WaPo, 1986)
25 Years of the NPA (Hartford, 1994)

Wildcard Resource

The Clash, Sandanista (Album, 1980)

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