Robert Grenier (CIA)

For other uses, see Robert Grenier (disambiguation).

Robert L. Grenier is a longtime CIA officer who served as the CIA's top counter-terrorism official (2004-2006) and was fired from that position by CIA director Porter Goss. Later, Grenier joined Kroll, Inc., as Managing Director. In 2009 he was appointed Chairman of ERG Partners, an independent financial and strategic advisory firm focusing on the security and intelligence sectors.

Career

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq

In 2001, Grenier was the CIA station chief in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he helped plan covert operations in support of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. In the summer of 2002 he was promoted to the chief of the Iraq Issues Group, where he helped coordinate covert operations in support of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Grenier served as Director, CIA's Counterterrorist Center for about a year, but was fired from that position on 6 February 2006 by CIA director Porter Goss.[1] In 2006, Grenier joined Kroll, Inc., as Managing Director.

CIA leak case and Libby trial

In early 2006, Grenier was identified in court documents in connection with the ongoing CIA leak grand jury investigation and charges against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Grenier told Libby on June 11, 2003, one month before the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA identity, that Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and was involved in arranging Wilson's 2002 trip to Niger.[2] Libby claims to have forgotten about the conversation.

On January 24, 2006, Grenier testified in the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, telling jurors Lewis Libby asked him for information about Joseph Wilson's investigatory trip to Niger on June 11, 2003, and that he reported back to Libby about Wilson's wife's involvement in the trip, as well as Wilson's wife's employment by the CIA, later on June 11. Grenier did not, however, mention Plame's name to Libby, which appeared in a column by Robert Novak a month later.

Grenier testified that it was unusual to get a call from Libby, and unusual to be called out of a meeting with CIA director George Tenet to supply Libby with answers. Wilson was sent on the February 2002 investigatory mission by the CIA, Grenier said, because the Office of the Vice President wanted answers about reports of uranium purchases from Niger, although the State Department and INR were interested in the CIA's take as well. Grenier testified that later media reports about the leak (which suggested Libby may have originally learned about Plame a month later from journalists) prompted him to contact CIA lawyers about his earlier conversations with Libby. According to Grenier, Libby thanked him personally a few days later for the information about Wilson's trip, telling him it had been "useful."[3]

ERG Partners

In 2009 Grenier was appointed Chairman of ERG Partners, an independent financial and strategic advisory firm solely focused on the security and intelligence sectors.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gellman, Barton & Linzer, Dafna (February 7, 2006). "Top Counterterrorism Officer Removed Amid Turmoil at CIA". Washington Post.
  2. ↑ Meek, James Gordon (May 23, 2006). "2 in CIA to testify Libby lied on leak". New York Daily News.
  3. ↑ Wheeler, Marcy (January 24, 2007). "Robert Grenier testimony liveblogging, January 24, 2007". firedoglake.com.
  4. ↑ "About Us". ERG Partners. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
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