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Jenny Cohen
SPEA
jercohen@indiana.edu
812-855-6802

Last modified: Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Former CIA chief Tyler Drumheller to appear at IU SPEA

Tyler Drumheller, author of the new book "On the Brink: An Insider's Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence," will speak at IU SPEA on Nov. 16.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 1, 2006

EDITORS: Drumheller will be available to speak directly with reporters before his presentation. To attend the media briefing, contact Jenny Cohen, SPEA, at 812-855-6802 or jercohen@indiana.edu.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Tyler Drumheller, former chief of the CIA European Division, will speak at Indiana University's School of Public and Environmental Affairs on Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. His lecture, "The Politicalization of the CIA," will be held in the SPEA Building Atrium, which is located at 1315 E. 10th St. The event is free and open to the public.

Drumheller is the author of a book released last week, On the Brink: An Insider's Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence, published by Carroll & Graf.

"Tyler was one of the most well respected operations officers at the CIA and at the center of the 'Curveball' controversy," said Gene Coyle, an adjunct professor at SPEA who worked with Drumheller at the CIA. "Whatever one's views on the Iraq war, Tyler's insights on the role of the CIA in providing intelligence support to the president will be quite enlightening -- an insider's view that is rarely available to the public."

Drumheller retired from the CIA in 2004 after 25 years with the agency. He maintains that in 2002 and 2003, he and others in the CIA warned officials not to trust an informant known as "Curveball." The information that Curveball provided was later used by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell in talks with the United Nations as a justification for war with Iraq. The commission investigating the failed intelligence has since discredited Curveball as a source.

Drumheller was based at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., through several presidential administrations, from the Reagan administration to that of George W. Bush. He worked alongside Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and George Tenet. In the book, Drumheller discusses the mechanisms of U.S. intelligence operations, the role of politics in the current Bush administration's intelligence gathering and the use of intelligence in the current war in Iraq.

The IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) is a global leader in public policy and management, environmental science and managing the relationship between the two. The school is committed to teaching, research and service in public and non-profit management, public policy, environmental science, arts administration and health administration. SPEA has earned national distinction for innovative educational programs and was ranked in the top three graduate programs in its field in the 2005 U.S. News and World Report.

For more information, contact Jenny Cohen, SPEA, 812-855-6802 or jercohen@indiana.edu.