 milton bearden (born april,1940) is a retired central intelligence agency officer, author and film consultant. bearden is president and ceo of the asia-africa projects group, a washington, dc-based resource development and advisory services firm. as of 2003, bearden lives in reston, virginia with his french-born wife, marie-catherine. bearden was born in oklahoma and spent his early years in the washington state, where his father worked on the manhattan project, and later moved with his family to houston, texas. after serving in the united states air force, he joined the cia in 1964. == career with the cia == during his 30-year career with the cia bearden was a station chief in pakistan, nigeria, sudan and germany. in pakistan from 1986 to 1989, he became a cia field officer in afghanistan. he played a role in funding and training the mujahedeen to fight occupying soviet forces. bearden appeared several times in the bbc documentary by adam curtis called the power of nightmares where he talked of his involvement with the mujahadeen, the afghan arabs and how he was assigned to the role by william casey the then current director of central intelligence. according to bearden, casey told him that afghanistan seemed to be possibly one of the keys to winning. casey said "'i want you to go to afghanstian, i want you to go next month and i will give you what ever you need to win... he gave me the stinger missiles and a billion dollars!" bearden was one of the senior cia officials criticized in the 1994 "snitch fax". the fax was allegedly written by ex-cia officer david sullivan, and addressed to members of congress investigating cia issues, including the aldrich ames spy case.wedge: the secret war between the fbi and cia, mark riebling, 1994, pub by alfred a knopfc.i.a. officer's suit tells tale of betrayal and disgrace by tim weiner, ny times, september 01, 1996 he was later appointed the chief of the soviet/east european division during the collapse of the soviet union. he received the distinguished intelligence medal, the intelligence medal of merit and the donovan award for his cia service. he received the federal cross of merit from the president of the german federal republic for his service in germany at the end of the cold war. == writer and commentator == since retiring, bearden has written books based on his experiences, commented on current events, and appeared on television, including secret warriors (discovery channel), covert action (bbc), the power of nightmares (bbc2) and heroes under fire ([[history (u.s. tv cha
1940_births American_Cold_War_spymasters American_spies Cold_War_spies Living_people People_of_the_Central_Intelligence_Agency People_of_the_Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan Recipients_of_the_Distinguished_Intelligence_Medal Recipients_of_the_Order_of_Merit_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany United_States_Air_Force_airmen