A Life of Secrets: A Candid Conversation with Michael Vickers

Anti-riot police give signal to be ready. Government power concept. Spec ops police in action. Smoke on a dark background with lights. Blue red flashing sirens. Selective focus

Posted: June 16th, 2023

By Michael Vickers

Dr. Michael Vickers served as Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence from 2011 to 2015 and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Low Intensity Conflict, and Interdependent Capabilities from 2007 to 2011. Earlier in his career, he served as an operations officer with the CIA and as a U.S. Army Special Forces officer and operator. Mike is best known as the mastermind of the covert action program that defeated the Soviet Army in Afghanistan and helped bring an end to the Cold War. His exploits against the Soviets in Afghanistan were featured in the book and movie Charlie Wilson’s War. More recently, he played central roles in our campaigns to dismantle and defeat al-Qa’ida and in the operation that killed Usama Bin Ladin. He is the recipient of the presidential national security medal, our nation’s highest award in intelligence. His memoir, By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2023.

Subscriber+Exclusive Interview — In his new book, By All Means Available: Memoirs of a Life in Intelligence, Special Operations, and Strategy, former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Cipher Brief Expert Dr. Michael G. Vickers shares a lot of the secrets he spent a career protecting.

As Ukraine pushes Russian forces from occupied territory, The Cipher Brief sat down with the former chief U.S. strategist who helped orchestrate something similar against Moscow, albeit far more secretive, some four decades ago.

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