U. S. Army C.I. Special Agent (Ret.)

Counter Terrorism Expert    Popular Author     Network CI Analyst 

To book Dave DeBatto for your organization's next engagement, please click here for our contact page.

Dave DeBatto served as a U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agent and leader of a Tactical Human Intelligence Team (THT) in Iraq in 2003, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Prior to deployment to Iraq, he had been an Army Instructor in the Army’s Counterintelligence Agent course, and also served as a German linguist in signals intelligence (SIGINT). While serving in the Sunni Triangle area of Iraq, his team's responsibilities included: tracking down the infamous "55 Playing Card" Iraqi fugitives; searching for WMD, as well as high level Ba'ath Party members and top Iraqi military leaders. His team's intelligence collection efforts lead to the capture of one of the "55", as well as the capture of several Iraqi generals, top intelligence operatives, assassins and large caches of conventional weapons and warehouses full of top-secret documents.

Dave, or “Daoud” as the Iraqis called him, developed close working relationships, and the trust of, several top Iraqi leaders.  Because of those relationships, he was able to obtain information not available to other American military and civilian officials.  He conducted weekly tribal council meetings, involving up to fifteen important sheiks from several competing tribes.  These efforts were the largest and most successful tribal interfaces in the entire Iraqi theater of operations.  Later, Ambassador Paul Bremer began hosting similar council meetings, although on a smaller scale.

Agent DeBatto’s service in Iraq ended when he was seriously wounded during an intelligence operation mission near Camp Anaconda, Iraq in late 2003, after which he spent six months in several Army hospitals, undergoing medical treatment and rehabilitation therapy.  He was medically retired by the Army in the Spring of 2004.

Dave was a highly successful law enforcement officer for over twenty years, before, and during his U. S. Army service.

Counter Terrorism Analyst:  Dave DeBatto has provided expert analysis on events in the middle east and on the global war against terrorism for numerous television and radio networks, such as FOX, CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and others.  He is widely quoted as an expert source on terrorism and national security related stories by several leading news organizations.

Author:   Dave DeBatto is the co-author of Warner Book’s “CI” (counter terrorism) series of novels.  The first two books (of four), CI: TEAM RED and CI: DARK TARGET have been published, and the third and fourth will be released in October, 2006 and May, 2007 respectively.

Also to be released in October, 2006 by Cumberland House, is his first non-fiction book, THEY STILL DON’T GET IT. This book exposes the U.S. Army’s gross negligence and disrespect of their own Counter Intelligence forces.

Dave has written articles for Vanity Fair, Salon, The American Prospect, and Spiegel television in Germany.  He writes a weekly column on www.davedebatto.com.  To book Dave as your keynote speaker, please click here.

Keynote Speaker:  Dave DeBatto is an accomplished, and entertaining public speaker, much sought after for his energy, humor, and serious topical content.  Conference and seminar audiences can expect clear, informative, thought-provoking presentations on such subjects (but not limited to) as:   Team Building; Mentoring; Leadership; Iraq, in general; the Global War on Terrorism; Intelligence Collection in an Asymmetric War; the Current Status of Military Intelligence; Islam and America; Negotiating within the Arab Culture; the Near Future of the Persian Gulf Region; American Hegemony in the Early to Mid 21^st Century, and other related topics. 

To learn more on how to book Dave DeBatto for your organization's next engagement, please click here for our contact page.