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At a training facility in Saint Augustine, Florida, you can watch Ric Prado at work. The bullets are real. He's retired from the CIA, but still trains local SWAT teams.
The life of a CIA shadow warrior
Posted from cbsnews.com
Reading
Intelligence
Cuba
National Security
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
...""You're a dangerous man," said CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
"Not to my allies," Prado replied.
ric-prado-training.jpg
Ric Prado (foreground) training SWAT teams.
CBS NEWS
He calls himself a meat-eater – and he's not talking about his diet. He showed Martin a display of his "tools of the trade." "I like knives because they scare me," he said. "So, I figure they scare everybody else, too. So, they're a good weapon to have."
Prado spent 24 years with the CIA, and has written a book, called "Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior." It begins in Cuba, when Fidel Castro came to power and seized the Prados' coffee roasting business.
"Castro cracked down really, really hard," Prado said.
The family gathered for a final dinner together, before putting their 10-year-old on a plane to the U.S., by himself. "Imagine putting your only child on an airplane to a country that you've never been to, with no guarantees that you're going to be able to follow, for freedom."
He lived in an orphanage until his parents made it out eight months later, and settled in Hialeah, Florida. In 1971, he joined the Air Force and became a pararescueman.
"I loved it," Prado said.
"If you loved it so much, why did you get out?"
"Vietnam was gone. My dream was to go to Vietnam."
"So, 'No war, I'm outta here'?" asked Martin.
"Exactly, yeah, no real mission."
He found his mission in the CIA, working undercover with anti-communist rebels at jungle camps in Honduras. "I was the only CIA officer operating in the camps," he said. "All the training that they got, I was the one conducting that for them. It was the best job I ever had."...
...""You're a dangerous man," said CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
"Not to my allies," Prado replied.
ric-prado-training.jpg
Ric Prado (foreground) training SWAT teams.
CBS NEWS
He calls himself a meat-eater – and he's not talking about his diet. He showed Martin a display of his "tools of the trade." "I like knives because they scare me," he said. "So, I figure they scare everybody else, too. So, they're a good weapon to have."
Prado spent 24 years with the CIA, and has written a book, called "Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior." It begins in Cuba, when Fidel Castro came to power and seized the Prados' coffee roasting business.
"Castro cracked down really, really hard," Prado said.
The family gathered for a final dinner together, before putting their 10-year-old on a plane to the U.S., by himself. "Imagine putting your only child on an airplane to a country that you've never been to, with no guarantees that you're going to be able to follow, for freedom."
He lived in an orphanage until his parents made it out eight months later, and settled in Hialeah, Florida. In 1971, he joined the Air Force and became a pararescueman.
"I loved it," Prado said.
"If you loved it so much, why did you get out?"
"Vietnam was gone. My dream was to go to Vietnam."
"So, 'No war, I'm outta here'?" asked Martin.
"Exactly, yeah, no real mission."
He found his mission in the CIA, working undercover with anti-communist rebels at jungle camps in Honduras. "I was the only CIA officer operating in the camps," he said. "All the training that they got, I was the one conducting that for them. It was the best job I ever had."...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Lt Col Charlie Brown I Still Prefer My Method, Stay on My Side of the Line and Reach behind it with Electronics!
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I saw this interview on TV on Sunday morning. It makes me want to read the book. Crazy, all the things he saw, places he was, and how he could have possibly changed the world.
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