WHO IS MICHAEL C. RUPPERT?

"This is the man who cost CIA Director Deutch his guaranteed appointment as Secretary of Defense after confronting him at Locke High School with hard facts about CIA dealing drugs." - Dick Gregory

Learn More: OPENING REMARKS OF MICHAEL C. RUPPERT for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (WRITTEN STATEMENT WITH EXHIBITS)

Mike Ruppert- photo Preston Peet

"…in the course of investigations in the mid 70's he came across information that the CIA was trading drugs in order to fund covert operations in the Middle East… Perot called him back to offer encouragement… Ruppert says that his main objective is to see that the country gets a leader worthy of its people. Even for Ross Perot those will be tough shoes to fill." - PEOPLE MAGAZINE 6/22/92

"Mike Ruppert is a one man crusade trying to expose America's bogus war on drugs. From the time we met on the campaign trail in 1992 while filming THE LAST PARTY, through his challenge to John Deutch, Mike Ruppert has been on the front line trying to get the story out." - Marc Levin, - Emmy award winning Director of PBS's The Secret Government, THE LAST PARTY and Producer of Bill Moyers' 1998 series on Addiction.

Mike Ruppert, 50, is the Publisher/Editor of From the Wilderness or FTW, a newsletter he founded in March 1998 by mailing out 68 copies to friends and researchers. FTW is now read by more than 2,200 subscribers in 27 countries including 20 members of the US Congress and professors at 12 universities in the US and Canada. Through the newsletter and his website at www.copvcia.com, Mike has pioneered innovative analysis and groundbreaking original stories on the impact of $5-600 billion per year in drug money moving through the US economy and the illegal covert operations which maintain control of that cash flow for US economic interests.

An Honors graduate of UCLA in Political Science (1973), Mike is a former LAPD narcotics investigator who discovered CIA trafficking in drugs in 1977. After attempting to expose this he was forced out of LAPD in 1978 while earning the highest rating reports possible and having no pending disciplinary actions. In 1996, after 18 years of struggle, he finally achieved one of his deepest wishes in a face to face public encounter with then CIA Director John Deutch on national television. Washington sources later told Mike that Deutch's mishandling of the encounter cost him a guaranteed appointment as Secretary of Defense.

Mike's stories, which have expanded to include economic analysis and detailed exposés of the CIA and the American political system, have been reprinted in 12 countries. Now a popular lecturer on the college circuit, Mike is booked on a post 9-11 lecture series through the summer of 2002. He is a regular guest on talk radio shows at major stations throughout the country.

In the wake of the September 11th attacks Mike was among the first to be publicly critical of a number of transparent flaws in the official story presented by the US government. In more than twenty stories since 9-11 he has followed his tested strategy of using only government documents, official statements or verifiable press reports as the basis for his work. As a result he has been openly received by several members of Congress and maintains open lines of communication with congressional and committee staffs.

On November 28, 2001 Mike gave his first post 9-11 lecture at Portland State University, which was attended by more than 1,000 and resulted in a standing ovation. Mike and FTW will be releasing a professionally produced videotape, Truth and Lies About 9-11, on February 1. Special exclusive interviews with Representatives Ron Paul (R-TX), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Professor Peter Dale Scott, (UC, Berkeley), Professor John Metzger (Michigan State) and Catherine Austin Fitts (former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Managing Director, Dillon Read) have already resulted in extensive pre-publicity and advance sales.

Mike has offered a $1,000 prize to anyone who can disprove the authenticity of any of his source material. Since November 2001, no one has presented a claim.

To learn more about Mike, click here to read a two part Hearld Examiner series on Michael C. Ruppert.