Ray McGovern

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Savior in inner-city Washington.  He served 30 years as an U.S. Army Intelligence and CIA analyst, and in retirement co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

Julian Assange and the Jozsef Mindszenty Case

Courageous publishers like Julian Assange and principled churchmen like Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty are a rarity: Neither would be silenced, and both had to seek asylum, but the similarity ends there.

Ray McGovern
By Ray McGovern
Gov. Thomas J. Meskill has a few private words with Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, former primate of Hungary as the Cardinal arrived at St Ladislaus' Church in Norwalk, Conn. on Wednesday, May 8, 1974. Meskill was on hand to greet the Cardinal. Photo | AP

During World War II Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty was a huge critic of fascism and wound up in prison. In Oct. 1945 he became head of the Church in Hungary and spoke out just as strongly against Communist oppression. He wound up back in prison for eight more years, including long periods of solitary confinement and endured other forms of torture. In

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Robert Mueller: Gone Fishing

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s strategy may be to try to lure Donald Trump into perjury when Mueller can already get all the answers to his questions from the NSA.

Ray McGovern
William Binney
By Ray McGovern
And William Binney
Outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller smiles as he speaks at the Justice Department in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013, during his farewell ceremony. Mueller is stepping down in September after 12 years heading the agency. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

After a year of investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has, in effect, admitted that he has hit a dry well.  He is under strong pressure to keep the charade going until the November elections, however, so he and his high-priced legal brain-trust have devised a new tactic. One would think

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Attacking Syria: Military Brass Thumbs Noses at the Constitution

It was a sad spectacle to see U.S. brass rubbishing the Constitution and trying to silence critics of the U.S. strike on Syria, says Ray McGovern in this commentary.

Ray McGovern
By Ray McGovern
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) fires a Tomahawk land attack missile early Saturday, April 14, 2018, as part of the military response to Syria's use of chemical weapons on April 7. The United States, France and Britain launched military strikes in Syria to punish President Bashar Assad for an apparent chemical attack against civilians and to deter him from doing it again. (Lt. j.g. Matthew Daniels/U.S. Navy via AP)

Opinion -- The U.S. Constitution and international law suffered a stinging blow last night at the hands of an odd coalition that might be called Goldilocks and two moral dwarfs posing as Marine generals, together with a “Right Dishonorable” harridan and a young French poodle. As was the case 15 years ago when the U.S. and UK launched a war of

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Coming Attraction: Lunatic John Bolton Loose in West Wing

As Uber-Hawk John Bolton prepares to take over as national security adviser on Monday, Ray McGovern looks back at when Bolton was one of the “crazies” in the George W. Bush administration.

Ray McGovern
By Ray McGovern
President Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser John Bolton, left, walks up the steps with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, as Bolton arrives at the Pentagon, Thursday, March 29, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

John Bolton’s March 22 appointment-by-tweet as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser has given “March Madness” a new and ominous meaning.  There is less than a week left to batten down the hatches before Bolton makes U.S. foreign policy worse that it already is. During a recent interview with The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill  (minutes

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NBC Gives a Boost to Vladimir Putin’s Presidential Campaign

With the Russian president in the heat of a re-election campaign, Putin sat down to talk with NBC’s Megyn Kelly for an interview that enabled him to burnish his credentials to the Russian electorate.

Ray McGovern
By Ray McGovern
In this photo taken on Friday, March 2, 2018 and released Saturday, March 10, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks during an interview with NBC News' Megyn Kelly in Kaliningrad, Russia. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s team swept a doubleheader on March 1, with his mid-day speech claiming strategic parity with the U.S., and then the nightcap duel with NBC’s Megyn Kelly. Any lingering doubt that Putin is a shoo-in for another term as President is now dispelled. Putin might consider sending NBC a thank-you note. Reviewing the

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My First Day as CIA Director

Former CIA analyst and founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Ray McGovern, in this tongue-in-cheek article, outlines steps he would take on Day One as CIA Director to get to the bottom of Russiagate.

Ray McGovern
By Ray McGovern
Ray McGovern, center, and Ann Wright, right, with the Bush Crimes Commission try to deliver to the White House in Washington, Sept. 13, 2006, to President Bush. The citizens' Commission of Inquiry concluded its year-long investigation into whether the Bush administration has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. White House officers refused the item and ask them to mail it to the White House. (AP/Ron Edmonds)

Opinion -- Now that I have been nominated again – this time by author Paul Craig Roberts – to be CIA director, I am preparing to hit the ground running. This time around, on the off-chance I do get the nod, I have taken the time to prepare the agenda for my first few days as CIA director. Here’s how Day One looks so far:Last time my name was

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The FBI’s Heavy Hand in the Russia-Gate Scandal

In the Watergate era, liberals warned about U.S. intelligence agencies manipulating U.S. politics, but now Trump-hatred has blinded many of them to this danger becoming real, as ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern notes.

Ray McGovern
By Ray McGovern
President Donald Trump speaks during the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, in Quantico, Va. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Russia-gate is becoming FBI-gate, thanks to the official release of unguarded text messages between loose-lipped FBI counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and his garrulous girlfriend, FBI lawyer Lisa Page. (Ten illustrative texts from their exchange appear at the end of this article.) Despite his former job as chief of the FBI’s

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