Thomas Clines

Thomas Gregory Clines (August 18, 1928 - July 30, 2013) was a Central Intelligence Agency covert operations officer who was a prominent figure in the Iran-Contra Affair.

Clines served in the 1950-1953 Korean War, and was awarded the Korea Service Medal with four Bronze Stars, and the Combat Infantryman Badge; his unit also received the Distinguished Unit Citation.

In the 1950s Clines worked at the CIA's Technical Services Division in Frankfurt.

As a CIA agent, between 1961–1962, Clines was involved in covert operations in Cuba. Clines later joined Ted Shackley, David Atlee Phillips and David Sanchez Morales at JM WAVE, the CIA's operational headquarters in Miami, Florida for the Cuban Project also known as Operation Mongoose, a project to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba.

During this period, beginning shortly after the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, Clines developed a personal friendship with Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle, after his father, Anastasio Somoza Garcia, allowed the CIA to train anti-Cuban rebels in the country.

Between 1966-1970, during the Vietnam War, Clines worked as Ted Shackley's deputy in charge of the CIA's secret war in Laos.