Man relaxing by the poolside.
His name is Duane R. Clarridge, 78, and he is founder and CEO of the Eclipse Group – a private corporation.
What Eclipse is remains largely a mystery.
But in a recent New York Times article, called:
“Ex-Spy Duane R. Clarridge, Runs his own private CIA” we get some snapshot into the lifestyle of a real life spy master who sought ways to gather information many people regarded as underhanded or dirty.
In one case he arranged for sending emails to field “agents” to gather bread trimmings or other DNA samples of Harmid Karzai that might prove suspicions that the Afghan President was a heroin addict. A novel approach perhaps but conclusive in terms of absolute scientific reliability.
In many respects Clarridge was a man of action, living a real life james Bond story in San Diego, California. Interestingly many of his reports were considered “actionable” by the military, which he was working under contract for to hunt insurgents and he was able to tip US intelligence to a way to track Haqqani fighters and finances around the world.
He is considered a hero by some and a villain by others. I think the truth is somewhere in between. He did manage to field agents in the Pakistan mountains during the time the place was crawling with Taliban and Al-Qaida fighters. All in a days work for some spy masters it would seem.