BOOK REVIEW: Guardian: Life in the Crosshairs of the CIA’s War on Terror
By Thomas Pecora
Reviewed by Mike Howard
Mike Howard is the former Chief Security Officer for Microsoft, where he worked for 16 years. He is also a former CIA Security and Operations Officer, a role which he held for 22 years.
Thomas Pecora has written a riveting account of his 27 years of service with the Central Intelligence Agency. Throughout those 27 years, Pecora worked in the Agency’s Office of Security – Protective Operations Cadre (POC) and had assignments with the Agency’s Counterterrorist Center (CTC) conducting Protective Operations training and Countersurveillance Operations. The author’s work took him to hot spots all over the world including Somalia, the Philippines, Sudan, and Iraq. Pecora’s work, and that of his well-trained colleagues, entailed the protection of CIA personnel and at times, other American entities in dangerous areas of the world. Though I have never met Pecora, his narrative of his exploits rings true.
I too served in the CIA for 22 years, the first six years with the Office of Security, the last few years of which were with the Director of CIA’s (William J. Casey) protective detail. The bulk of my career was with CTC and though Pecora and I never met each other (he joined in 1989 and I joined in 1980), we chewed the same turf. I too served in the Philippines as a Liaison Branch Case Officer (C/O) organizing the activities of what would come to be known as the Counterterrorism Unit or CTU in helping to protect CIA personnel in that country. Pecora was a stellar part of CTU later in his career. He also worked in the Counterterrorism Training Group (CTG) which trained foreign liaison services in protective operations skills. I worked in that unit in the late 80’s and became its Branch Chief in the early 90’s. So, when I say that Pecora’s book rings true, it does.
The book opens with a riveting and intense account of the assassination of Colonel Nick Rowe in Manila, Philippines in February 1989. Colonel Rowe was a highly decorated Green Beret who had been a POW in Vietnam for 5 years. He managed to escape captivity and the techniques he used to escape and evade re-capture by the Viet Cong have been incorporated for years in Special Operations training. Rowe was a legend, working in the Philippines for JUSMAG – Joint US Military Assistance Group. He was assassinated while being driven in an armored limousine on his way to work by Communist hit men who riddled his car with bullets. One of the bullets, as Pecora’s book describes, found a flaw in the armoring and that was the round that killed Colonel Rowe. I was assigned to the Philippines Desk at CIA, preparing to be deployed there in the summer of 1989, when Colonel Rowe was assassinated. It was a devastating blow to all Americans assigned to the Philippines and Pecora’s narrative of this heinous assassination of an American hero sets the tone for his entire book. As Pecora said himself in his book, while he and his team were assigned protective operations in Somalia in 1993, “their unspoken mantra was no more Nick Rowe tragedies.”
Throughout Pecora’s book, he accurately describes the training, preparation and fortitude needed by POC in dangerous areas as they work to protect CIA personnel and other Americans in harms way. His harrowing rendition of the attack on his vehicle in Mogadishu in 1993 and his team’s valiant efforts to get a wounded CIA Deputy Chief of Station wounded in the attack to a nearby Army hospital sounds like something from an action movie or novel but all of it was true. Pecora was awarded the Intelligence Star for Valor, the CIA’s second highest award and it was well-deserved in my opinion.
Pecora’s work with the CTU is also an exciting read. The author deployed to many overseas locations with his teams, conducting countersurveillance operations in support of Agency and U.S. personnel in dangerous areas. I had the privilege, as did Pecora, to work with someone he mentions in the book, Billy Waugh. Billy is a legend in the Green Berets, having distinguished himself time and time again during the Vietnam War. As mentioned earlier in this review, I oversaw the operations of a nascent CTU (called something else in the late 90’s) in Manila, Philippines and one of the members of that team was one, Billy Waugh. Pecora accurately describes the work of this group, its training and its value to CTC around the world in many dangerous areas. Pecora’s work in CTG also bears mention. The training of foreign liaison personnel in protective operations is vital as many terrorists would love to assassinate foreign leaders friendly to U.S. national security and economic interests. Pecora’s work in that group helped to strengthen the security posture of countries friendly to and allied with the U.S.
Pecora’s book is a fascinating read for anyone, whether you have a CIA background like I do, or whether you know nothing about the CIA other than what one sees in movies and on TV. In reading Pecora’s narrative of his life with the CIA, what comes across quite strikingly is that with all of his exploits and heroism, Tom comes across as a humble, dedicated member of the CIA and a devoted family man.
Pecora’s work, and the work of all CIA personnel, entail many long hours, often in dangerous situations, in far flung parts of the world, away from friends and family. Pecora had the privilege of serving his country and the CIA for many years and his work helped to make this world of ours a much better and safer place.
If you want to know what true, unsung heroism, in the face of extreme dangerous situations entails for CIA personnel working around the world, read this book. I highly recommend it and applaud Pecora for writing about his journey.
Guardian: Life in the Crosshairs of the CIA’s War on Terrorism earns a prestigious four out of four trench coats
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