Ray McGovern is quite frankly one bad motherfucker.

He was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990 beginning under President John F. Kennedy and lasting until the Presidency of George H. W. Bush. From 1981 to 1985 he prepared and presented the President’s Daily Brief one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s most senior national security advisers including then Vice President George H. W. Bush.

In 2003 Ray came out of retirement and founded the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) which analyses and criticises the use of intelligence. He famously confronted Donald Rumsfeld publicly about lying about W.M.D. and nearly got him to recant his statements. Ray also protested a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by turning his back onkly to be physically removed, double handcuffed and seriously battered and bruised. He did this at the spry age of 71.

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Please join me in welcoming Ray McGovern to London Real. I consider him a piece of living history and was honoured to be able to speak to him about issues ranging from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Cold War to Edward Snowden and Julian Assange to the Ukrainian Separatists, Gaza, ISIS and more.

compiled by @zander-bylund.