Home > CIA: Frank G. Wisner arrived in Cairo
CIA: Frank G. Wisner arrived in Cairo
As the Egyptian revolt swells, the U.S. National Security Council considered that the handling of the situation by Margaret Scobey, their Ambassador in Cairo, was not good enough.
Ms Scobey is a career diplomat with a significant track record in the Middle East, but lacks experience in secret operations. Without prejudging the future, she has spared no effort to meet with the greatest number of players and establish ties with all camps at the same time.
For the National Security Council, it is not enough to simply safeguard the interests of the United States. It is absolutely indispensable to preserve the Egyptian-Israeli peace, which implies having to choose the next leaders of the country. Thus, the NSC called on Frank G. Wisner, former Ambassador to Egypt (1986-91), and dispatched him urgently to Cairo where he arrived on 31 January 2011.
Mr. Wisner is the son of Frank G. Wisner Sr., co-founder of the CIA and Gladio. Together with Allen Dulles, Wisner Sr. was one of the architects of the U.S. secret intervention doctrine: support those democracies which make a "good choice", oppose those which make the wrong choice.
As for Frank G. Wisner Jr., he has always worked for the Agency and continues to do so, serving in particular as a Director of Refugees International.
Ambassador Wisner, a personal friend of President Hosni Mubarak, has been tasked with organising his low-key destitution. His arrival was discretely preceded by a telephone call from Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen to his Egyptian counterpart General Sami Enan —the Egyptian army is trained and equipped by the Pentagon—. Officially, Mullen commended him for his restraint, a message perfectly deciphered by Cairo which was followed, a few minutes later, by an announcement that the army viewed the protests as legitimate.
Frank G. Wisner Jr. is not known to the U.S. public either as a diplomat or as a master spy, but as an unscrupulous financier. He was part of the Enron power elite involved in the fraudulent bankrupcy of the corporation that ruined countless small investors and, later, as Vice Chairman of American International Group whose share prices plummeted by 95% during the 2008 financial crisis before its bailout with taxpayers’ money.
Although not at all known in France, Wisner Jr. has nevertheless played a major role in that country’s recent history. He married Christine de Ganay (Pal Sarkozy’s second wife) and, in that capacity, reared Nicolas Sarkozy during his New York days. It was he who introduced Sarkozy during his teen-age years to CIA insiders and opened the doors for him of French political circles. One of Wisner’s sons was Sarkozy’s English-speaking political campaign spokesman; another one of his children became one of the pillars of the Carlyle Group, the Bush and Ben Laden asset management firm.
In addition, it was Frank G. Wisner who strongly recommended his friend Bernard Kouchner as French Foreign Minister with the mission to mobilise European states in favour of Kosovo’s independence.