10 questions with former CIA operative and ‘KH601′ author Richard G. Irwin

Richard G. Irwin is the author of “KH601: And Ye Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Make You Free.”

Irwin, a former senior special operations program officer at the Central Intelligence Agency, served 28 years with the agency before retiring in 2005. He currently serves as vice president of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Community at MELE Associates.

Irwin recently agreed to answer 10 questions from The Daily Caller about his book and other current events:

1. Why did you decide to write the book and what does the title refer to?

After reading Gary Schroen’s book “First In” about the CIA Northern Alliance Liaison Team (NALT) that was sent into Afghanistan on 27 September 2001, 16 days after 9/11, and then the book “Jawbreaker” by Gary Berntsen, who led the second team into Afghanistan, I thought it might be a good idea to write about the exploits of the third team that went in, which I was on. Once I started putting pen to paper, in addition to my time in Afghanistan, I decided to write about some of the other interesting aspects of my 28 year career with the CIA.

As a covert operations officer, I had the opportunity to serve at the “right time and the right place” on several historic occasions, and was fortunate to have been involved in some of the most successful operations in the annals of the agency — stories that normally are only told inside the hallowed halls of the CIA. Along the way, I battled communism with the Contra’s in Central America, witnessed the rise of global terrorism, Al-Qaeda, and the events that led up to 9/11, and laid my life on the line in Afghanistan.

KH601 refers to my CIA badge, which I received when I joined the CIA on 11 September 1977. The second part, “And Ye Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Free” is a John VIII-XXXII (8:32) King James Bible biblical verse, etched on the wall inside the lobby of the CIA, which characterizes the intelligence mission in a free society.

2. You detail in the book your time working in a counternarcotics capacity at the CIA. From your experience in the trenches, what do you think about the War on Drugs? Where do you stand on arguments for legalization or decriminalization of narcotics?

During my time in Central America during the 1980s, my time in a European post during the mid-1990s managing a new counternarcotics program, my time in the CIA’s Counternarcotics Center (CNC) as a Deputy Group Chief, and later while in charge of special operations in CNC, I was fortunate to have been involved in some of the largest narcotics seizures on record involving cocaine, hashish, and heroin. The most difficult part of this work was convincing our foreign government counterparts that it was more important to focus on disrupting entire networks rather than individual traffickers. After providing intelligence, lead information, technical equipment, and training, we eventually won them over however, and together began dismantling trafficking organizations. With the number of successful seizures we have had to date, I am confident that our efforts are forcing drug traffickers to constantly change their modus operandi, methodology, and routes. When we are able to freeze a drug trafficker’s money or seize their assets, they take notice. As for legalization or decriminalization of narcotics, I do not agree with either.