Pakistan's senior governmental and military leaders are all dead. ![]() It says, "From my desk behind the big, blue door, I reread the cable with a sinking feeling. ![]() What I thought I'd do, Fred, is I actually thought I'd read a quick passage from the book to kind of set the context, and then maybe you can tell us a bit more of what you were experiencing and what was going on in your mind.įaisel Pervaiz Here we go. As I was just preparing for this conversation, I was reading through your book Ghost, and you actually write a few chapters in that book about this exact incident we're going to talk about today. Everybody had old-fashioned Motorola beepers and rotary dial phones on their desk.įaisel Pervaiz Another era, really. In essence, you were living out of a suitcase in a time period when there was no internet, no cell phones. ![]() Our small, little branch spent the better part of the 1980s, Faisel, doing nothing but going from terrorist attack, to terrorist attack, and that included events like the Rome Vienna airport massacre by Abu Nidal, the Beirut Embassy bombings, and numerous hijackings and plane crashes. In the 1980s, we had a very small counter-terrorism branch that was responsible for the investigation of global terrorist events, primarily directed towards US diplomatic missions, US foreign service personnel, but then it also invariably included attacks against Americans overseas in any capacity. It actually began as the Bureau of Secret Intelligence for the State Department, so it's got somewhat of a fascinating history that runs through several different time periods in our nation's history. Well first, the Diplomatic Security Service was founded in 1916. I thought Fred, that before we dive into the discussion, maybe you can set some context here for us in terms of what it was like to be working as an agent in the Cold War, and also, if you could maybe describe very quickly what exactly does the Diplomatic Security Service do?įred Burton Sure, I'd be happy to. Now at the time, you were a young agent with the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service. Fred, as some of our listeners may be able to guess, I'm of course, talking about the plane crash that killed Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq in August of 1988. It should be fun.įaisel Pervaiz It's really my pleasure, Fred, thank you. Fred, thanks for joining me today.įred Burton Thanks for agreeing to do this, Faisel. Thanks for joining us.įaisel Pervaiz I'm Faisel Pervaiz, and today it's my pleasure to be joined by Fred Burton for a conversation that involves a mysterious plane crash, the death of a dictator, and the final battle of the Cold War. In this episode of the Podcast, Burton sits down with Stratfor South Asia Analyst Faisel Pervaiz to reflect on that experience and the questions that still linger to this day. 30 years ago, just three years into his service as a counter-terrorism agent, the US State Department dispatched him to investigate the crash. Stratfor Chief Security Officer Fred Burton remembers the day well. United States Ambassador Arnie Raphel and US Army Brigadier General Herbert Wassom were also onboard. Those onboard the Pakistani presidential aircraft included President Zia-ul-Haq, and multiple members of his joint chiefs of staff. On August 17th, 1988, PAK-1 crashed near Bahawalpur, Pakistan. There was a lot of suspicions, a lot of finger-pointing, and a tremendous amount of saber-rattling.īen Sheen Welcome to the Stratfor Podcast focused on geopolitics and world affairs from. They had just lost not only their president, but cabinet level personnel that were aboard the aircraft too. This was a catastrophic event for Pakistan. Brad Thor's Spymaster is available now on CD and for download wherever audiobooks are sold. The Spymaster audiobook is as current as tomorrow's headlines. Take a white-knuckle thrill ride with Navy Seal, turned covert counter-terrorism operative Scot Harvath as he defends freedom by any means necessary. The latest audiobook from number one New York Times bestselling thriller author Brad Thor. Fred Burton Hello, I'm Fred Burton, and this episode of the Stratfor Podcast is brought to you by Spymaster.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |