About the Author

Dr. William ‘Chip’ Beck, EdD. (Retired)

Central Intelligence Agency

U.S. Naval Intelligence

U.S. State Department

Dr. William (Chip) Beck is a retired Navy Commander and a CIA Senior Clandestine Service Officer who served in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1969 to 1975. Beyond that, he is a combat veteran and observer of more than 20 foreign wars, revolutions, and conflict zones on four continents. 

From 1963 through 2013 he engaged in various military, intelligence, diplomatic, defense, peacekeeping, and law enforcement capacities before retiring from the State Department to pursue writing, art, photography, leisure travel, and life on his Virginia farm.

Beck has traveled to 150 foreign countries and speaks several foreign languages. He holds degrees up to a doctorate in International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, Organizational Leadership, and Conflict Resolution.