Robert William "Blowtorch Bob" Komer (February 23, 1922 – April 9, 2000) was a CIA officer, a United States National Security Council staffer in the Kennedy administration, was briefly the US Ambassador to Turkey starting in 1968, and later the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (a Department of Defense position) in the Carter administration. Komer headed the Phoenix Program and CORDS "pacification" program in the Vietnam War.[1] Later he became a consultant with the Rand Corporation, writing classified studies on NATO and about rapid-deployment forces in the Persian Gulf, eventually working in the Carter administration.[2] He later returned to the Rand Corporation as a defense consultant.[3]
In 1969, while serving as the ambassador to Turkey, Komer's car was overturned and burned by students at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.[4]
Early life
Komer was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Harvard in 1942, served in the Army in the Second World War, and, after having graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1947, joined the newly-formed CIA.[2]
References
- ↑ Kuzmarov, Jeremy. “Former Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah Is No Doubt Rolling in His Grave as AFRICOM Carries out Military Training Exercises in Ghana.” CovertAction Magazine. April 3, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 “Robert Komer, 78, Figure in Vietnam, Dies.” New York Times, April 12, 2000. Archived Page 1, Archived Page 2.
- ↑ Byrne, Ciar. “Robert Komer.” The Guardian. April 14, 2000. Archived 2021-02-11.
- ↑ The New York Times. "KOMER’S CAR BURNED by TURKISH LEFTISTS" Published 1969.