Former CIA analyst and advisor to successive US presidents, Ray McGovern, will be in Galway this weekend to give a public lecture on the growing threat of nuclear war under the Trump presidency.
Mr McGovern was originally a US army infantry/intelligence officer, before joining the CIA, where he served for 27 years. His duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the president’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s five most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985. His career saw him serve under US presidents John F Kennedy, Lyndon B Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Regan.
Mr McGovern's talk, entitled Will Trump Cause Nuclear Doomsday? will take place in Richardson's, Eyre Square, this Sunday at 3pm. Having served through the tensest times of the Cold War, it is Mr McGovern's expert opinion that tensions today are at their highest in 55 years since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 2003, Mr McGovern co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity to expose how intelligence was being falsified to “justify” war on Iraq. Since then he has regularly spoken on peace platforms across the world. Fluent in Russian, German, and Spanish he is a much sought after speaker. This will be his first time speaking in Galway. He has close links with Ireland and County Galway as his grandmother was born in Woodford.
The meeting is organised by the Galway Alliance Against War. Admission is free and all are welcome.