Robert Richer

Robert Richer is vice president for intelligence at the private military corporation Blackwater USA.

Previously, Richer replaced James Pavitt as Deputy Director of Operations at the Central Intelligence Agency.

Richer, who served less than a year at the CIA, had been selected by CIA Director Porter J. Goss. Richer announced his retirement on September 14, 2005, and "made an unusual appearance at a closed session of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence" September 21, 2005, "to answer questions about how his concern over a lack of leadership at the agency triggered his retirement."

"In leaving as assistant deputy director of operations," Richer joined a "number of senior clandestine managers, including several with Middle East expertise, who have left since Goss took over the agency" in September 2004. Richer is "a former CIA station chief in Amman, Jordan, and had headed the Near East division."

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