CHAPTER 1
BETRAYAL IN THE BALKANS:
HILLARY SENT ME,
BUT BILL NEARLY GOT ME KILLED
W
hen the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) selected me in mid-1995
to lead an all-volunteer team to war-ravaged Sarajevo to carry out a
highest-priority mission, I had mixed emotions. One year earlier, my team
and I had made it most of the way to Sarajevo on a similar mission but
were turned back at the last minute due to the “deteriorating security situa-
tion” in the besieged city. In layman’s terms, it was too dangerous. By 1995,
the situation in Sarajevo had worsened, but possible NATO intervention
required an immediate CIA presence on the ground in Bosnia’s shattered
capital. In fact, according to my division chief, First Lady Hillary Clinton
made the call that the CIA should open up its first ever station in Sarajevo.
In mid-1995, the Bosnian Serbs were shelling the once-picturesque city
of Sarajevo around the clock from the surrounding hilltops, and random
sniper fire made it impossible to walk down its cobblestone streets in safety.
Just getting into the city, which was cut off and surrounded by hostile Serb
forces, was next to impossible. But this was the reason I’d become a CIA
operations officer. I loved the adventure, believed in the agency and its
mission, and always jumped at the chance to return to my old stomping
ground in the Balkans. Despite the obvious risks, I was honored to be
named the CIA’s first chief of station (COS) in Sarajevo.
On the other hand, what was I thinking? I was back in the United
States, on a relaxed rotational assignment after two overseas tours. I rel-
ished my nine-to-five American routine and being “Mr. Mom” to the two
most wonderful little girls on the planet. The thought of being away from
my daughters for a month or more was beyond difficult. And I couldn’t23