Gary Berntsen

Gary Berntsen is a recently retired twenty-three-year Veteran of CIA’s Clandestine Service, and the best-selling author of Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaida. As one of CIA’s most decorated officers, Berntsen led many of the Central Intelligence Agency’s most important counterterrorist deployments and served as a Senior CIA Field Commander for a decade around the globe. Recent reports confirm that Paramount Pictures has purchased the option for Jawbreaker.

Selected to lead CIA’s deployment after the East Africa bombings and then again to lead in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Berntsen was at the forefront in confronting al Qaeda and the Taliban and a pivotal figure in the United States victory in Afghanistan.

Berntsen’s knowledge of intelligence, counterterrorism and foreign affairs provides for an informed and dynamic presentation in our ongoing struggle with Jihadist Terrorists. Having served on the ground in multiple insurgencies, Berntsen provides his audience with gritty, informed understanding of what needs to be done in order to achieve victory in the long war that we face. In assignments as varied as the Middle East South Asia, Latin America and the Balkans he conducted cutting edge operations against many of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups.

At the core of his success was the ability to lead under adverse conditions and inspire the men and women under his command. The CIA awarded Berntsen the Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the Intelligence Star respectively in 1998 and 2004. In 2006, Intelcon, a private sector supporter of the Intelligence Community awarded him the first William F. Buckley Award for Leadership, named after the kidnapped and murdered CIA Station Chief in Lebanon in 1984.

Berntsen has appeared on national television and radio. He has been interviewed extensively by Tim Russert, Bill O’Reilly, Chris Mathews and John Kaisch to name just a few.

Central to his presentation is the need to lead, over come obstacles and inspire others. On August 26, 2008 his second book was published. It is a novel called The Walk-In, an espionage thriller about an Iranian Qods Officer who wants to sell information about an upcoming terrorist attack on the U.S. And later in the fall a policy book is being published about human intelligence and counterterrorism.

    Human Intelligence and Counterterrorism Operations

    Leadership in Times of Crisis

    Risk Management during Global Disorder