Origin of the CIA and Military Armed Drone Program | CIA War Zone Chief of Base | Never Mind, We’ll Do It Ourselves Author | Alec Bierbauer

Join our weekly Combat Check-In Newsletter (www.combatstory.com/newsletter) to get a short email from Ryan for people who love and support our veterans, service members, and their families. It has info on a significant event in military and/or intel history, a funny military joke, an update on a current event I'm following, something I'm doing that week in my life, a book I'm reading, a look at an upcoming interview, a reflection on a past episode and more! Today we hear a Combat Story detailing the almost start-up like creation and expansion of the CIA and military’s drone program that would go on to help find, fix, and finish high value targets across the globe with Army veteran and CIA officer, Alec Bierbauer. Alec was an Army intelligence soldier and Warrant Officer before being hand picked to join DIA and then being hand picked again, this time by CIA legend Cofer Black, to join the CIA. Prior to 9/11, Alec was detailed from DIA to CIA’s virtual station, coincidentally named Alec Station, tracking Al-Qaida and Bin Laden. He would later have the opportunity to fire some of the first shots of the war against AQ through the predator program. He went on to be a CIA Chief of Base in the early years of the Global War on Terror to track down targets in Afghanistan and continued serving in austere environments, including several stints more recently in an expeditionary capacity in locations he can’t name while in more senior roles at the Agency. Alec and Mark Cooter wrote the book “Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves: The Inside Story of How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone Warfare Revolution” which details never before seen experiences of how the drone program was stood up and leveraged post-9/11. This interview was a blast and I hope you enjoy this detailed look at such a critical program to national security during such a pivotal time, as much as I did.

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Show Notes: 00:00 - Intro 00:49 - Guest Introduction (Alec Bierbauer) 02:24 - Interview begins 04:05 - Getting connected 04:56 -Living overseas 07:00 - Giving a cover story 09:15 - Being in Moscow in the late 70's 11:20 - Moving around, growing up, and grades 12:53 - Path to the Army 15:48 - Impression of America growing up overseas 17:06 - Deciding what role to fill in the Army 20:03 - Joining the Seapower and Projection Forces Commitee 23:12 - Transition to the D.I.A. 27:47 - Drones during the late 90's 32:13 - Working with other Agencies 38:41 - Identifying terrorist threats 45:41 - Intelligence Operations in Afghanistan 57:05 -Alternate options to Drones to find Bin Laden 59:48 - 9/11 and Drone deployment 01:11:51 - Time in Afghanistan 01:23:13 - Leading a base at the front end of the war 01:31:13 - Mike Span's passing 01:35:40 - Most couragous acts 01:45:50 - Satisfaction of the Drone Program 01:49:45 - Unmaned aircrafts Vs. Manned aircrafts 01:51:11 - Keep going back to the fight 01:53:10 - Retirement 01:55:47 - Starting BlackRock Strategy 01:57:17 - Sentimental items 01:58:53 - Do it all again 01:59:43 - Closing thoughts 02:01:24 - Listener comments and shout outs