Ross Newland

Ross Newland  ( spook)
Nationality	US
Alma mater	•  Kent School •  Trinity College (Hartford) •  London School of Economics and Political Science
CIA spook working in Latin America, and Romania during the 1989 regime change  CIA/Latin American Division/Buenos Aires Station/Chief In office 1998 - 2001  CIA/Latin American Division/Havana Station/Chief In office 1994 - 1996  CIA/Central Eurasia Division/Bucharest Station/Chief In office 1988 - Present Including 1989. End year not known

William Ross Newland III is a CIA spook who was station chief three times

Background

Newland, the son of an international businessman, was raised in Latin America and has native fluency in Spanish. he attended Kent School, boarding high school in Connecticut.

Newland took a degree in History and Russian Studies (a spooky study area) at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut from 1974-78, then Russian History at the London School of Economics and Political Science 1978-79

Career

According to his Linkedin "During a 26-year career as a senior member of the Clandestine Service, Mr. Newland had six overseas tours, five of them in Latin America. Newland was a Chief of Station three times and served tours in Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Romania. During his career he held a number of senior operational and managerial positions, including Deputy Director for Technical Services, Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Affairs and Director of Operational Technology. Mr. Newland was the Director of Central Intelligence for Military Affairs in the period leading up to and following 9/11, and in that capacity helped establish historical relationships between the CIA and the U.S. military, particularly with the Special Forces and Special Operations elements. Mr. Newland was also the recipient of numerous CIA awards, including the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the Defense Department Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, and the State Department Medal of Valor."

In 1978, he was interviewed by Nestor Sanchez, the CIA's station chief in Madrid, and joined the agency. Sanchez was able to guide Newland's early career, and he put him at the center of the action. He was sent first to Bolivia, then the world’s cocaine capital, where he was directed to cultivate sources in the drug cartels.

By 1985, he was involved in the covert was against Nicaragua, supporting the Contras from the station in Costa Rica. According to a 2011 book (published by Penguin, thus a limited hangout), Newland's job was to penetrate the government in the capital of Managua in order to determine the plans and intentions of senior Nicaraguan political and military officials.

Still in his early thirties, Newland became the youngest station chief in the history of the CIA's division handling Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, handling Romania. Newland was in charge of keeping the Bush administration informed about the collapse of the government of Nicolae Ceausescu. On Christmas Day, with Romanian paratroopers holding Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena in custody, Newland found himself trying to convince the officers of the unit holding the couple not to execute them without at least conducting some kind of trial. At least, that’s what Newland’s bosses at Langley had told him to tell the Romanian troops. "And so we forced them to go through a trial, and it lasted, like, twenty minutes," he said.

Newland was responsible for U.S intelligence activities against Cuba from 1994-1996 as Chief of Station for the CIA in Havana.

He was outed in 2001 in the he newspaper La Pagina, publishing his identity and a photo, presumably after a leak by the Argentinian intelligence agency SIDE.

After the CIA, he was a consultant for companies such as Arcos Dorados, The Delian Group LLC, Gráfico TD International, and TD International. Consultant

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