Clair Elroy George (August 3, 1930 – August 11, 2011)
One of the CIA’s earliest recruits. He specialized in turning agents to spy on their own countries for the United States.
George served as the CIA’s station chief in Beirut when civil war erupted there in 1975.
Deputy director for operations (DDO) of the Central Intelligence Agency from July 1984 through December 1987. In this role, he was directly responsible for the clandestine operations which shipped weapons to Iran and Nicaragua’s death squads.
He was convicted of lying to a congressional committee about Iran-Contra in 1987. President Bush, the current president’s father, himself a former CIA chief, had pardoned Clair George on Christmas Eve 1992.
Dirty tricks operative for Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circuses