Michael Scheuer
| Michael Scheuer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Residence | Virginia |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
Canisius College, Niagara University, MA, Carleton University, MA, University of Manitoba, PhD |
| Occupation | former CIA intelligence officer, blogger, author, foreign policy critic, political analyst, adjunct professor |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Married with two children |
| Website | non-intervention |
Michael F. Scheuer (born 1952) is a former CIA intelligence officer, American blogger, author, foreign policy critic, and political analyst. He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies. One of his assignments during his 22-year career was serving as Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station (aka "Alec Station") (the Osama bin Laden tracking unit at the Counterterrorist Center) from 1996 to 1999. He also served as Special Advisor to the Chief of Alec Station from September 2001 to November 2004.
Scheuer became a public figure after being outed as the anonymous author of the 2004 book Imperial Hubris, in which he criticized many of the United States' assumptions about Islamist insurgencies and particularly Osama bin Laden. Later in 2004, shortly after the 'outing' of Scheuer's harsh criticism of America's close alliance with Israel, Scheuer resigned from his position at the CIA. In his book Scheuer depicted bin Laden as a rational actor who was fighting to weaken the United States by weakening its economy, rather than merely combating and killing Americans.
Scheuer challenges the common assumption that terrorism is the threat that the United States is facing in the modern era, arguing rather that Islamist insurgency (and not "terrorism") is the core of the conflict between the U.S. and Islamist forces, who in places such as Kashmir, Xinjiang, and Chechnya are "struggling not just for independence but against institutionalized barbarism." Osama bin Laden acknowledged the book in a 2007 statement, suggesting that it revealed "the reasons for your losing the war against us".
In February 2009, Scheuer reported that, as a consequence of his statements about US foreign policy towards Israel, he had been fired from his position as a senior fellow of The Jamestown Foundation by Jamestown's president. In December 2013 and January 2014, Scheuer was criticized for seeming to advise American citizens to seriously consider assassinating US President Barack Obama. In September 2014 in addition to earlier "praise" received from Al Qaeda, the Islamic State issued a press release quoting Scheuer's in order to appeal to an American audience.
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