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Michael G. Vickers

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Michael G. Vickers
Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
In office
March 16, 2011 – April 30, 2015
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byJames Clapper
Succeeded byMarcel Lettre
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities
In office
July 23, 2007 – March 16, 2011
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Barack Obama
Preceded byThomas O'Connell
Succeeded byMichael Lumpkin (Acting)
Personal details
Born
Michael George Vickers

(1953-04-27) April 27, 1953 (age 71)
Burbank, California, U.S.A.
Alma materUniversity of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
University of Pennsylvania
Johns Hopkins University

Michael George Vickers (born April 27, 1953) is an American defense official who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD-I) within the United States Department of Defense.[1] He was born in Burbank, California.[2] As USD-I, Vickers, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010, was the Defense Department's top civilian military intelligence official. Before becoming USD-I, Vickers served as United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict.[3]

Before joining the Defense Department, Vickers served in the Army Special Forces as both a non-commissioned and commissioned officer, as well as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) paramilitary operations officer from their elite Special Activities Division (renamed Special Activities Center in 2016 [4]).[5] While in the CIA, he played a key role in the arming of the resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[6]

Career

From 1973 to 1986, Michael Vickers served as an Army Special Forces sergeant, later as a commissioned officer, and CIA paramilitary operations officer. In the mid-1980s, Michael Vickers became involved with Operation Cyclone, the CIA program to arm Islamist Mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War. He was the head military strategist for the US, coordinating an effort that involved ten countries and providing direction to forces made up of over 500,000 Afghan fighters.[7] Later Mike was Senior Vice President, Strategic Studies, at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), during which Mike provided advice on Iraq strategy to US President George H.W. Bush and his war cabinet.[7] In July 2007 Mike was confirmed by the United States Senate as Assistant Secretary of Defense, where Mike is the senior civilian advisor to the US Secretary of Defense on such matters as "counter-terrorism" strategy and operational employment of special operations forces, strategic forces, and conventional forces.[8] In 2004, Mike wrote an op-ed piece for USA Today in which Mike stated that the United States can be successful in Iraq by using a much smaller force modeled on its deployment in Afghanistan.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

Personal

Michael Vickers was a C+ student in high school with little desire for anything but lifting weights and training for school sports. This changed in his senior year, when one of his teachers introduced him to the realities of International Relations and the CIA's Secret War in Laos. Michael Vickers attended Pierce College, where Mike originally intended on playing football but was beaten out of the starting quarterback position by future NCIS star Mark Harmon.

Mike decided to instead enlist in the U.S. Army, applying for service in Special Forces, figuring that they would best prepare him for his ideal occupation in the Central Intelligence Agency.[9] When Mike took the Army's intelligence test, Mike received a score of 160 points, the highest score possible.Mike excelled at virtually every aspect of Special Forces training. Mike was considered one of their foremost experts in hand-to-hand combat, and he studied Soviet weapons and tactics to an obsessive level.Mike cross-trained with the Navy SEALs and the British SAS, and even volunteered to parachute behind Soviet lines with a small thermonuclear warhead, should a large scale war break out.Mike also completed the Army's grueling Ranger School as well as the U.S. Military Free-Fall School.

Later in life,Michael Vickers attended the University of Alabama, where Mike graduated with honors, and went on to attend the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania from which he received an MBA.[9] Mike earned a Ph.D. in 2011 in International Relations/Strategic Studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University under Professor Eliot A. Cohen.

Vickers' role at the Central Intelligence Agency during the Soviet–Afghan War was featured in George Crile's 2003 book Charlie Wilson's War, and in the 2007 movie adaptation in which he is played by actor Christopher Denham.

See also

References

  1. ^ Secret warrior leaves
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/04/measuring-change-at-the-cia/
  5. ^ Crile, George (2003). Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-854-9.
  6. ^ "Sorry Charlie this is Michael Vickers's War", Washington Post, 27 December 2007
  7. ^ a b Bio page at the United States Department of Defense
  8. ^ Nomination page at Whitehouse.gov [failed verification]
  9. ^ a b "Telemus Group Principals". Robert Martinage. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
Political offices
Preceded by
Thomas O'Connell
 Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities
2007–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
2011–present 		Incumbent
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