44 AMERICAN SPY
What did James Risen’s article about my Sarajevo adventure miss or simply
get wrong? Note that this was through no fault of his own, since he relied
on his not entirely reliable CIA source(s) for the secret details of the story.
For starters, the CIA didn’t “pull me out” of Sarajevo. As revealed
in chapter 1, I rejected the CIA’s recommended options and exfiltrated
Bosnia on my own, with the help of my brave American colleagues.
The CIA feigned surprise that Iran had this kind of influence over the
Bosnian security service. This should not have been a surprise to anyone
paying attention. We enabled and ignored the Serb slaughter of Bosnian
Muslims for three years, and then we facilitated, rather than obstructed,
Iranian influence in Bosnia. It would have been surprising if this had not
been the outcome.
Marko, the head of the Bosnian security service, did not just provide
my identity to the Iranians. Obeying Iranian tasking, he set me up and
“introduced” me to the head of the Iranian intelligence service in a private,
three-way meeting in a small room in the Ministry of Interior. After which
the Iranian MOIS chief wrote up his detailed description of me and his
ops plan for kidnapping and interrogating me, along with other measures.
Fortunately, I was able to read what he had planned for me and exfiltrate
Sarajevo before he could execute his plan. And me.
The good news is the US government made removal of the Iranians
and Bosnian interior minister (and Iranian agent) Bakir Alispahić a condi-
tion to the Dayton peace accords. In this sense, my close brush with death
was not for nothing and may have actually contributed to the eventual life-
saving peace accord.
Ironically, President Clinton—who had enabled Iranian influence in
Bosnia—had to certify that Bosnia had expelled all Iranians before Con-
gress would approve funding to train the Bosnian Army.
Two consecutive White Houses didn’t just ignore the CIA, but they
ignored reporting from this specific CIA officer. And because they ignored
my intelligence, I almost paid the ultimate price. When US policy makers
ignore intelligence, it’s not just an academic question. There are real conse-
quences, for millions of people and, in this case, for me personally.