Alan Fiers

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Person.png Alan Fiers  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(spook)
Alan Dale Fiers Jr.jpg
Born1939
Interests“Iran-Contra”
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who had a major responsibility for support of the Nicaraguan Contras' guerilla war.

Alan D. Fiers, Jr, (a.k.a. 'Cliff Grubbs') was President Ronald Reagan's Chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Central American Task Force from October 1984 until his retirement in 1988.

Early life

Alan Fiers Jr. was born in Ohio to a family led by an evangelical Christian minister. He attended Thomas Carr Howe Community High School in Indianapolis and was the most valuable player on the football team. He played tackle and guard at Ohio State University on several title-contending teams coached by Woody Hayes. Fiers was a starter for the 1960 team, playing both offense and defense.[1] His tenacity so impressed Mr. Hayes that Hayes kept him as an assistant coach for the 1961 National Championship Team.[2]

Military service

Alan Fiers joined the Marine Corps while still in college on 18 December 1958, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on 7 June 1961. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on 7 December 1962. Fiers was serving at Camp Lejeune by 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered his battalion, the 1st Battalion 8th Marines, along with other infantry battalions of the 2nd Marine Division, to the invasion of the Dominican Republic. There, The Indianapolis Star-News reported, that Lt. Fiers and two other marines crashed a Jeep through barricades under heavy gunfire to rescue a wounded civilian, for which, he was decorated with a Bronze Star for heroic achievement and a Purple Heart for wounds received in action.

Central Intelligence Agency

Following his service in the Marines, Fiers went home to Indiana and earned a degree in physical education, readying himself to coach football. His coaching career was not to be; however, and by 1969 he was under diplomatic cover by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His postings included Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey, followed by Karachi, Pakistan. By 1981, Mr. Fiers, whose alias in clandestine matters was "Cliff Grubbs", had risen to the coveted post of chief of station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. While with the CIA, he was awarded the Intelligence Medal of Merit, the Meritorious Officer Award and the Distinguished Officer Award.[3]

Iran Contra

Full article: Iran Contra

During his tenure with the Nicaraguan rebels, Fiers was known for wholeheartedly supporting Adolfo Calero and Enrique Bermúdez against so-called reformers like Arturo Cruz and Alfonso Robelo. He clashed with the State Department's Elliott Abrams, who supported Cruz and Robelo.

Legal action

Alan Fiers pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from the Congress about Oliver North's activities and the diversion of Iran arms sale money to aid the Nicaraguan Contras. Sentencing him, the judge said "I can't duck this responsibility" and gave him a year's probation and requiring him to perform the 100 hours of community service in the District of Columbia where, he said, "the need is so great for people of your talent and experience."[4]

Later activities

Fiers became a corporate vice president of W.R. Grace & Co. and its chief Washington lobbyist.[4]

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References

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