Ray McGovern earned a Masters’ degree with honors in Russian Language, Literature and History from Fordham University. In the early 1960s, he served as a US Army Infantry Intelligence Officer in the analysis division on Soviet foreign policy, especially with respect to China and Indochina, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, and Thailand.

In the CIA, he served under seven presidents from 1963 to 1990, beginning with John F. Kennedy. In the 1980s he chaired the National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President’s Daily Brief. In 2003, he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) dedicated to analyzing and criticizing the mis-use of intelligence, specifically the false claims leading to the Iraq War. In 2006, he returned to CIA headquarters to protest the CIA’s involvement in torture, when he returned his Intelligence Commendation Medal.

We spoke with Ray McGovern on April 6, 2022. The next day, The United Nations General Assembly voted to expell Russia from The Human Rights Council.

Articles or videos referenced or pertinent to the interview:

The War in Ukraine Has Unleashed a New Word https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/22/magazine/ruscism-ukraine-russia-war.html

With Us or With Them? In a New Cold War, How About Neither. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/24/world/asia/cold-war-ukraine.html

Malcolm Nance, TV pundit turned fighter in Ukraine: ‘I believe in the defense of democracy’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/29/malcolm-nance-msnbc-pundit-ukraine-soldier-michael-harriot

Russia’s standing in G-20 not threatened by Ukraine invasion https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/ap_news/business/russias-standing-in-g-20-not-threatened-by-ukraine-invasion/article_ba1b1888-5011-5459-a469-1730cb3013a9.html

Building a Just & Peaceful World with Anatol Lieven and Ray McGovern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joqd6tZ714k

Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine Salon | Ray McGovern, John Mearsheimer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppD_bhWODDc

Lev Golinkin on Russia’s New Offensive & War Crimes in the Donbas by Both Sides over Past 8 Years https://www.democracynow.org/2022/4/12/russia_russian_offensive_eastern_ukraine_donbas

Ukraine War Causing Fractures in the Peace Movement When It’s Needed Most https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/04/01/ukraine-war-causing-fractures-peace-movement-when-its-needed-most?vgo_ee=Y82RBGepzJGygaHT4lvL4KyPUFd7JHyq9acdSgULWaM%3D

A Three-Step Plan For Ending War in Ukraine and Building a Global Peace Movement https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/04/01/three-step-plan-ending-war-ukraine-and-building-global-peace-movement?vgo_ee=Y82RBGepzJGygaHT4lvL4KyPUFd7JHyq9acdSgULWaM%3D

Ukraine profile – Timeline https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18010123

Ukraine, the UN and history’s greatest broken promise https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61021862

The U.S. Has Its Own Agenda Against Russia https://theintercept.com/2022/04/01/russia-ukraine-proxy-war-washington-diplomacy/

Russia’s Newest Weapon in Ukraine May Be Mercenaries Linked to Putin https://theintercept.com/2022/03/31/ukraine-war-russia-wagner-group-mercenaries/

Ukraine: The Mess that Victoria Nuland Made https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/26/robert-parry-the-mess-that-nuland-made/

The Azov Battalion: Extremists defending Mariupol https://www.dw.com/en/the-azov-battalion-extremists-defending-mariupol/a-61151151

There’s One Far-Right Movement That Hates the Kremlin https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/04/17/theres-one-far-right-movement-that-hates-the-kremlin-azov-ukraine-biletsky-nouvelle-droite-venner/

Nazis & Hitler are verbal daggers in the Ukraine war https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/06/world/ukraine-russia-war-news

Amid Reports of Radiation Sickness, IAEA Says Russia Has Withdrawn From Chernobyl https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/03/31/amid-reports-radiation-sickness-iaea-says-russia-has-withdrawn-chernobyl?vgo_ee=Y82RBGepzJGygaHT4lvL4KyPUFd7JHyq9acdSgULWaM%3D

Is Russia committing genocide in Ukraine? A human rights expert looks at the warning signs https://theconversation.com/is-russia-committing-genocide-in-ukraine-a-human-rights-expert-looks-at-the-warning-signs-180017

NBC Off by 18 Years on US’s Last Use of Cluster Bombs https://fair.org/home/action-alert-nbc-off-by-18-years-on-uss-last-use-of-cluster-bombs/

The Geopolitics of Hell https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/08/geopolitics-hell

How the World’s Not-So-Great Powers Are Miscalculating on Ukraine https://truthout.org/articles/how-the-worlds-not-so-great-powers-are-miscalculating-on-ukraine/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=8d69f12c-3197-4a1b-a9db-303ad359273d

What if Putin Didn’t Miscalculate? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/29/opinion/ukraine-war-putin.html

Digitally Disappeared: YouTube Has Deleted Six Years of My Show https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/03/29/digitally-disappeared-youtube-has-deleted-six-years-my-show?vgo_ee=Y82RBGepzJGygaHT4lvL4KyPUFd7JHyq9acdSgULWaM%3D

‘No hope for science in Russia’: the academics trying to flee to the west https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/02/no-hope-science-russia-academics-trying-flee-to-west

The big idea: how to win the fight against disinformation https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/04/the-big-idea-how-to-win-the-fight-against-disinformation

Don’t assume Russia and China are on the same page. The US can work with China https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/04/us-china-relationship-xi

The starvation of a nation: Putin uses hunger as a weapon in Ukraine https://www.politico.eu/article/the-starvation-of-a-nation-how-putin-is-using-hunger-as-a-weapon-in-ukraine/

Mark Sullivan THE LAST GREEN VALLEY https://forthright.media/2021/04/28/mark-sullivan-the-last-green-valley/