Robert Richer

Robert Richer was the associate deputy director of operations of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the number two in command of the Operations Directorate, the part of the Agency responsible for human operations overseas, where he served under Jose Rodriguez. He took early retirement in September 2005, after only 10 months on the job, with reports that he "lacked confidence in the agency's leadership" and had "operational issues."

A former Marine, he was with the agency for 35 years, and was the former chief of the CIA's Near East division.

After leaving the CIA, Richer worked for Blackwater USA as vice-president for intelligence. Then in 2007 Richer created Total Intelligence Solutions with Cofer Black and Matthew G. Devost, co-founder and president of Terrorism Research Center, which, according to Richer, "is about delivering evolved intelligence and security solutions to the world's most demanding customers."

Richer is featured in the 2008 bestselling book The Way of the World by journalist Ron Suskind. In the book, Suskind alleges Richer was involved in fabricating the Habbush letter, which appeared to show a link between Al Qaeda and the government of Saddam Hussein. Richer publicly denies several of the book's claims.

Richer still resides in the Washington, D.C. area with his family.