Search results for ""Author Barry Broman""

Barry Broman has led a remarkable life, and met some remarkable people along the way of his years at a Central Intelligence Agency case officer. Broman was a teenage photographer for the Associated Press in Southeast Asia, then a Marine Corps infantry officer in combat in Vietnam before spending a quarter century as a “head-hunter” with dozens of recruits for the Clandestine Service in operations around the world. Mr. Broman received a BA in Political Science in 1967 followed by an MA in Southeast Asian Studies a year later. Immediately following his service in the Marine Corps, he was recruited by the CIA and spent his first posting in Cambodia at war. He was present at the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, escaping just before the Khmer Rouge took power. He subsequently served in other Asian postings, one in Europe, and one in the Western Hemisphere. During his career, Mr. Broman was twice a CIA chief of station, once a Deputy Chief of Station, and supervised an international para-military project in support of the Cambodian resistance to Vietnamese invaders. He was actively involved in several assignments in counter-narcotics operations in Southeast Asia including a major “bust” that yielded 551 kilograms of high-grade heroin from a major drug trafficker. His “favorite agent” against a variety of “hard targets” was a fellow whose only demand was that his assignments be “life threatening.” He survived them all. At times, the memoir reads like a travel book with tales of visits to little-known and rarely seen places like the Naga Hills on the India-Burma border, the world-famous but off limits jade and ruby mines of Burma, and the isolated Banda Islands of Indonesia, the home of nutmeg. The book is strengthened by many photos by the author. They include Marines in action in Vietnam, the ravages of war in Cambodia at war, and opium buyers forcing growers to sell in Burma.

Read more less

Barry Broman joined the CIA in 1971 straight out of the Marine Corps, choosing a career in intelligence largely because he wanted to spend his working life in Southeast Asia. Over the next thirty years, he had the privilege of working with brave men and women who were prepared to put their lives on the line in support of the free world during the Cold War, and he enjoyed the life of adventure he had been seeking since childhood. This book brings together tales from his career as a CIA case officer during the Cold War, giving fascinating insights into handling double agents, working in denied areas, assessing and recruiting Soviet targets, flying with Air America, acting to discredit Soviet agents with Moscow, and what happened when a case officer set a scavenger hunt around Bangkok for fellow spies--and at least one active target. A selection of stories told in engaging style proving that often the truth is more unbelievable than fiction. AUTHOR: Barry Broman was a teenage photograp

Read more less