The Program: “Special Operations in the Middle East during WWI” – From 1916-1918, the British forces in the Middle East conducted a series of special operations against the Ottoman forces and their German allies. The most famous of these special operations was the unconventional warfare effort known as the Great Arab Revolt and its famous practitioner, T.E. Lawrence. In fact, Lawrence was only one of many British and ANZAC officers and non-commissioned officers involved in operations that included direct action, unconventional warfare, and intelligence operations behind Ottoman lines. This presentation provides a summary of these diverse operations and how they were coordinated (or not) by the British command known as the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

Presenter: J. R. Seeger served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and a case officer in the CIA for a total of 27 years of federal service. During his time in the CIA, JR served in multiple foreign and domestic field assignments. Since his retirement, JR has worked as a part time field training instructor for the US Army Intelligence School and the US Special Operations Command. He works on course design for the CIA Museum and is a contractor at Sandia National Labs. He has multiple published articles in the journal Studies in Intelligence and the Journal of the TE Lawrence Society and has published a novel, MIKE4, which focuses on counterterrorism and counterintelligence in the post 9/11 world.