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Scott Ritter

Scott Ritter, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who has become a harsh critic of US foreign policywas one of the UN's top weapons inspectors in Iraq between 1991 and 1998. Before working for the UN he served as an officer in the US Marines and as a ballistic missile adviser to General Schwarzkopf in the first Gulf War. He is the author of many books including Iraq Confidential and lives in New York State.

William Scott Ritter Jr. was born on July 15, 1961, in Gainesville, Florida, United States. Ritter was born into a military family. His father, William Scott Ritter Sr., was a career military officer in the U.S. Air Force. This family background had a significant influence on Ritter’s early interest in military affairs and national security. Ritter attended Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, where he studied Soviet history. This academic focus laid the groundwork for his later specialization in military intelligence and foreign policy, especially regarding the Soviet Union during the Cold War. After college, Ritter joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1980. He served as an intelligence officer and gained experience in the field of arms control and disarmament. His early assignments included the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 and serving in the Persian Gulf War during the early 1990s, where he was involved in intelligence gathering and analysis. This early exposure to military operations and arms control issues set the stage for his later role as a UN weapons inspector, where he became a prominent figure during the inspections of Iraq in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War. During the 1980s, as part of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, the U.S. stationed inspectors at Votkinsk Machine Building Plant, a major missile production facility, to monitor compliance with the treaty. Scott Ritter was one of the American the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA) inspectors stationed at the Votkinsk Portal Monitoring Facility from 1988 to 1990. His duties involved monitoring Soviet missile production, specifically looking for treaty-violating activities. In Votinsk he met his future wife, Marina Khatiashvili, a translator from the Soviet republic of Georgia. While still married to his first wife, Ritter began an affair with 19 year old Marina Khatiashvili, his Russian supplied translator and escort. There is very limited public information available about Scott Ritter's 1992 marriage to Marina Khatiashvili. Niels Groeneveld wrote "Ritter encountered Marina Khatiashvili, ostensibly his guide and translator. Khatiashvili, reportedly under KGB oversight, was more than a mere facilitator; she was part of a calculated strategy, a living tool in the intricate and shadowy world of espionage.... The KGB's employment of honeytraps... involved the deliberate cultivation of intimate relationships to manipulate targets... their subsequent marriage, following Ritter's divorce, casts a curious light on the nature of their initial acquaintance..." Following the successful conclusion of Operation Desert Storm, the United Nations Security Council established the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) in order to implement relevant Security Council resolutions regarding the elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Scott Ritter later wrote: "my marriage to Marina Khatiashvili, a Georgian national who I became acquainted with during my time as an inspector with OSIA, and who I courted and married after leaving the Marine Corps, had infuriated John Bird [ed: of the CIA], who had apparently been taken to task for trying to recruit a guy (me) who then went off and married a Soviet.... a memorandum, written by John Bird, which stipulated that I was a “known threat” to the United States, and should be treated as a serious security risk. This letter was the Genesis of all CIA concerns.... Every aspect of my work was now targeted for disruption by the CIA.... the CIA’s Directorate for Operations notified the FBI that I was committing espionage by taking classified U-2 imagery to Israel." Scott Ritter resigned as a UN weapons inspector in protest on 26 August 1998, complaining about, in part, the Clinton Administration's position. He told Newsweek magazine "I heard somebody say Madeleine Albright blocked more inspections in 1997 than Saddam Hussein did. It's a funny quip, but unfortunately it's true. Not only is it Iraq that is frustrating us, but it is the people that are supposed to be supporting us that are obstructing us." When Ritter resigned, he was hailed by conservatives in Congress for standing up to the lack of spine in the Clinton administration.

Democratic Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware was less kind, faulting Ritter for reaching “above his pay grade” in presuming to tell White House officials how to conduct foreign policy. “That’s why they get paid the big bucks,” Biden said. “That’s why they get the limos, and you don’t.” Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Wolf Blitzer of CNN on 01 September 1998 "I think that Scott Ritter has his piece of the story. He was a good inspector; I'm not going to criticize him. However, he doesn't have a clue about what our overall policy has been. We are the foremost supporter of UNSCOM; we have directed -- have inspired, really, more inspections than anybody else. If it weren't for the United States -- and I must say, me, personally -- I doubt very much that the sanctions regime would be in place as strongly as it is. ... Though I admire Scott Ritter for his inspection abilities, he is not the one putting together US policy which has managed to keep the strongest sanctions regime in the history of the world on Saddam Hussein. ... I am not going to speak ill of Scott Ritter -- he's a great American -- but he does not know the policy that we are carrying out."

Ritter subsequently testified before various Congressional committees regarding his concerns about evolving U.S. policy toward Iraq. Mr. Ritter, in other fora, also expressed concerns about certain aspects of intelligence sharing between U.S. intelligence agencies and UNSCOM. Journalist Seymour Hersh points out that Scott Ritter got it right about WMD in Iraq. In the balance of the book, Ritter goes on to suggest that anyone with the same data he had would have reached the same conclusion. But, he states, “dissemination of accurate assessments was prevented by the US Government.” This was done to promote the “USA’s principal objective in Iraq after 1991…regime change.” He then alleges that the “CIA was designated as the principal implementer of this policy…through its manipulation of the work of the UN weapons inspectors and distortion of the facts about Iraq’s WMD programs.”

An editorial, "A Dangerous Poker Game With Iraq," which appeared in the October 4, 1998, issue of the New York Times, stated : " editorial, entitled ‘‘A Dangerous Poker Game With Iraq,’’ which appeared in the October 4, 1998, issue of the New York Times "the Administration is trying to discredit and intimidate Scott Ritter, a former top United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq who is rightly sounding an alarm about the developments in Baghdad.... Ritter has been rewarded for this truth telling with a stern warning from the United Nations, a Federal criminal investigation into his association with Israel and the ludicrous assertion of American officials that he does not know what he is talking about. This treatment is an embarrassment to the country."

In 1999, Scott Ritter was approached by a Detroit area businessman with links to Saddam Hussein, to make a film about the "devasting effects" that U.N. Sanctions have had on Iraq. Ritter completed the film in July of 2000. Ritter was paid $400,000 to complete a one person, two camera, ninety-minute documentary. In 2001, Ritter was arrested for attempting to meet someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl in an online sting operation. However, those charges were dropped, and Ritter’s legal troubles did not significantly affect his career. Ritter was convicted in 2011 on charges related to inappropriate online communication with a police officer posing as a teenage girl. The charges stemmed from an online sting operation conducted in Pennsylvania, where Ritter was arrested in 2009. Ritter was charged with unlawful contact with a minor, criminal attempt to corrupt a minor, and indecent exposure. He was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 1.5 to 5.5 years in prison. Ritter was released from prison in 2014 after serving about two and a half years of his sentence. He was released on parole after completing the minimum portion of his 1.5 to 5.5-year sentence. Ritter maintained that the incident was part of a politically motivated effort to discredit him due to his outspoken criticism of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the Iraq War. Arising from his conviction, he is obliged to inform the authorities about foreign travel plans at least 21 days in advance. Ritter’s legal issues, while significant, did not fully silence his public voice. He has since written articles, appeared in interviews, and contributed to discussions on global security and military matters, often taking controversial stances critical of U.S. interventionism. However, his reputation remains affected by his criminal convictions, and these incidents continue to be part of his public legacy. Daniel Ellsberg said in 2012: “I respect and admire Scott Ritter’s character unreservedly...Not only was he right—again, almost alone—but he was willing to pay the personal costs psychologically and in career terms of bucking a tide of government propaganda and condemnation...I believe he is a great American.” Edward Peck , Chief of Mission in Baghdad (Iraq, 1977 to 1980) , said “Scott Ritter is a man with exceptional levels of integrity, honesty, courage and intelligence...I would not hesitate to place the personal safety of my family in his hands, with complete confidence in his strength of character. He is a man to be relied upon and trusted to comport himself responsibly at all times.” Marina Ritter: “As his wife of over 20 years, I can state unequivocally that Scott Ritter has always been, and remains to this day, an outstanding human being, and a wonderful man utterly dedicated to his country, community and family. Thank you for your support.” Scott Ritter said “At the end of the day, it's going to be a surrender [for Ukraine].” Ritter noted that Russia has a significant leverage to force concessions from Kiev, comparing their position to that of the United States in World War II before former President Harry Truman made the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “It's going to be unconditional surrender,” said the former UN weapons inspector. “I don't believe the Russians are going to sit there and say, 'well, you can keep some Banderites here. You can keep this NATO army here.' No, those are gone.” But Ritter claimed Moscow would ultimately seek a more conciliatory approach than that of the United States toward Japan in 1945. “Russia also wants to rapidly transition from conflict termination to ‘how do we repair relations with Europe, how do we get away from this war footing?”’ he said. “It's not in Russia's interest to have a permanent state of conflict with Europe, to be on a perpetual war footing,” Ritter added, claiming the country would prefer to devote resources towards domestic concerns rather than weapons production. Such dynamics would create “significant maneuver room” in negotiations between Moscow and Kiev according to the analyst.

On 03 June 2024, U.S. authorities seized Ritter's passport and prevented him from travelling to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Ritter was scheduled to participate in two panel discussions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) this week. He was stopped from boarding a Turkish Airlines flight on Monday, when US border officials seized his passport, he reported after the incident. “They didn’t just get me. They got the Russians, and that was the purpose. They stuck it to the Russians,” the vocal critic of US government policies said. The journalist said he was “100% certain” that the Department of State was retaliating against him for his friendly attitude towards Russia. The actions of the US government were “purely spiteful,” since it could just have called him to tell he was grounded.

Federal agents and state police executed a search warrant on Ritter's house in New York State on 07 August 2024 [ten days later FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Russian-born US political pundit and author Dimitri Simes]. In a video statement on his Telegram channel, Ritter said that the warrant was based upon suspicion that he had violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The authorities appear to be “primarily concerned” about his “relationship” with RT and the news agency Sputnik, he added. According to Ritter, the FBI agents accused him of working “on behalf of the Russian government” and receiving “directions” from the two Russian outlets while being compensated for his contributions. Ritter stressed that he was not a foreign agent and pointed out that he gets compensation from “any journalistic entity” he provides content for. ”There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that I will back down because I’m doing nothing wrong,” he stated, adding that he is “an American citizen, holding my government accountable and exercising the rights given to me by the Constitution.” "The actions by the Department of the Treasury in levying new sanctions against RT, Sputnik, and other Russian media organizations has made it impossible for me to continue my work as an outside contributor for RT and Sputnik, as well as participating in interviews and other collaborations with other Russian media," Ritter said on X 05 Septembe 2024. He said his work with Russian media organizations was legitimate journalism. "I reject the notion that the work I have done over the past years with the newly sanctioned Russian media organizations has been anything other than legitimate journalism, the content of which has been factually correct and analytically sound, and always of my own creation," Ritter said.