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Assumption Hosts Former CIA Officer Burton Gerber
 Worcester, MA - Former CIA Case Officer Burton Gerber has always possessed a unique willingness to experiment and take on new things.
Growing up as a newspaper delivery boy in smalltown Ohio during the World War II era, Gerber quickly became fascinated with world affairs and the military. This fascination would eventually lead him to an exciting, unpredictable and lengthy career in the CIA.
Gerber shared his story of career development and offered advice to Assumption College students in Professor Jeanne McNett's Management and Organizational Behavior (MGT 100) course on the afternoon of March 21, 2006.
During his career in the CIA, Gerber lived and worked in Germany, Bulgaria, Iran, Yugoslavia, and Russia as well as the United States. His basic duty was to recruit international spies in order to gain intelligence on foreign countries for the benefit of the U.S. Gerber refers to his work in the CIA as "not normal activity." He was trained in various psychological and intellectual methods in order to perform his recruiting tasks. Gerber stated that the goal of this line of work is to "get things that can't be gotten through any other means."
His missions forced him to learn several foreign languages including German, Bulgarian, Russian, and Farsi. Gerber also conducted intelligence missions in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Often times Gerber didn't know what the next step of a mission would involve but as he puts it, "Your time is never your own. It's the government's time."
In his presentation to Assumption students, Gerber also provided some career and life advice. He stressed the importance of training, the willingness to experiment and overcome apprehensions, and loyalty.
Gerber will speak formally at Assumption on Wednesday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m. His lecture will address “Intelligence Challenges in the 21st Century: Terrorism/Proliferation/Civil Liberties.” The event will be held in the La Maison Francaise Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
Gerber spent 39 years with the CIA primarily in operations related to the former Soviet Union and the former Warsaw Pact countries. He served with distinction in some of the most challenging overseas posts, including as Station Chief in Moscow during the Cold War. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the recipient of the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal among other CIA honors. Gerber, at the request of U.S. Government agencies and other organizations, often lectures on ethics as related to public policy and intelligence. He is also a frequent guest lecturer with Georgetown University's Security Studies Program and recently edited a book on U.S. Intelligence entitled Transforming U.S. Intelligence with Jennifer Sims by Georgetown Press.
This public lecture is sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs. For more information, please contact the Office of Public Affairs at (508)767-7160 or acpa@assumption.edu.
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