Gary Berntsen

Gary Berntsen is a decorated former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) career officer who served in the Directorate of Operations between October 1982 and June 2005. During his time at the CIA, he served as a CIA Station Chief on three separate occasions and led several of CIA’s most important counterterrorism deployments including the United States’ response to the East Africa Embassy bombings and the 9/11 attacks. He was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal in 2000 and the Intelligence Star in 2004.

He ran for the US Senate in 2010 for Chuck Schumer's seat, but lost the Republican primary to Jay Townsend, who in turn lost the general election.

Berntsen grew up in Smithtown, Long Island, a suburb of New York City. When Berntsen was seventeen, he tried to join the United States Army but his parents would not sign the enlistment contract. He waited until his eighteenth birthday when he decided to enlist in the Air Force. Berntsen served for four years as a Crash Firefighter in the Air Force, including tours in Alaska and Korea. During his time in the United States Air Force he became obsessed with educating himself, which he did by reading biographies and enrolling in the Air Force's self-study program, acing several courses. Berntsen also spent much of his time in the gym or skydiving. After Berntsen's time as a firefighter he became a full-time college student where he majored in Political Science and minored in Russian Studies. He attended the U.S. Marine Corps Platoon Leader Class for two summers. However, before he was commissioned in the Marine Corps, he was recruited into the CIA.

In August 1998 Berntsen led the response team to the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam. The subsequent investigation led to the capture of some 21 individuals involved with the planning and execution of the attacks.

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