Was he scared while on his black ops missions?
“You know I get asked that a lot, including from my wife. I believe we are all wired for a particular path…” His childhood in Cuba during the revolution, seeing the atrocities, seeing the abuse, and a hard life in the United States, hardened him. “You have to believe in your heart, that what you’re doing is the right thing.”
Enrique “Ric” Prado is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) clandestine services officer who spent his first decade at the agency as a paramilitary officer for their special operations force. Our conversation focuses on his 36 months in the Central America jungles as the first CIA officer residing in the anti-Sandinista “Contra” camps.
His background has been deemed as legendary. Throughout his 24-year career with the agency, he served as a paramilitary, counterterrorism, and special operations specialist, including six posts overseas. He retired as Senior Intel Service-2 (SIS-2), which is the equivalent of a Major General.
His collection of experiences was just released in a memoir that made it onto the New York Times best seller list. Hoping to lift the curtain of secrecy, Ric offers a peek into the shadow wars that the U.S. has fought since the Vietnam Era.
Our conversation notes some of the biggest misconceptions he has seen as folks embark on the clandestine journey within the agency, his story beginning in Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power and seized the Prados’ coffee roasting business, his journey to America, and eventually finding his mission in the CIA.
Successes throughout his operational career show that with some elbow grease and a can-do attitude, any setbacks within someone’s life can be overcome and prove for a thriving career in national security.  There are key moments or turning points in his career that forged his own path to combat the soviet regime for so many years, and could help to draw insights into better dealing with the Putin regime we are facing today.
Tune into this episode of the Security Clearance Careers Podcast: ClearedCast if you are yearning for an amazing story, advice while entering the intelligence field, or looking to expand your mentor group to propel your career with one of the three letter agencies.
Purchase Ric Prado’s Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior, a true story of a career as a covert CIA operative traveling the world, from everything to the contras in Nicaragua to the war on terror.
