Milton Bearden

Milton Bearden

A thirty-year veteran of the CIA’s clandestine services, Milton Bearden was chief of the Soviet/Eastern European Division at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He retired from the CIA in 1994 and developed a distinguished career as an author, political commentator and film consultant.  While serving as CIA chief in Pakistan, Mr. Bearden supplied the Afghan freedom fighters who overthrew the Soviets. 

During the 1980s, he was CIA Chief in Nigeria and later in Khartoum, where he covered Sudan’s civil war and the overthrow of the regime of Jaafer Nimeiri.  In 1985, Mr. Bearden organized a secret airlift of Ethiopian Falasha Jews from the Sudanase desert to Israel.  For his activities in Sudan, he received the CIA’s Intelligence Medal of Merit.  While serving in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Mr. Bearden received the CIA’s highest decoration, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal. He has also been honored with the CIA’s Donovan Award.

Among his many acclaimed books is The Black Tulip, a novel about the war in Afghanistan. He co-authored, with James Risen, the award-winning non-fiction account, The Main Enemy, about the end of the Cold War.  Mr. Bearden is also known for his consulting work on popular US films such as The Good Shepherd and Charlie Wilson’s War. He frequently contributes to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and other leading publications, and is a consultant for CBS News.