Eric Caron
It was our opportunity to work with Eric on a recent article on Ukraine. We felt that his background in international law enforcement was so right for looking at a number of issues, it was important to include him on our site – A site that’s dedicated to truthful, current information; facts not always found on other sites about the U.S. and world news, events, & preparedness
Eric Caron - Background
Eric served our country as:
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- Retired U.S. Diplomat
- Former Special Agent in Charge Homeland Security Investigations (DHS)
- Sr positions w/ Dept of Treasury, and INTERPOL
- Lead DHS official in Dubai; Managed covert operations disrupting int’l WMD proliferation, terrorism, drug smuggling & human trafficking.
- He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Cape Cod, where he teaches a course on How to Identify and Prevent Transnational Crime, and Cyber Security.
- Author
- Speaker
- Trainer in police and military tactics
- In Providence, Rhode Island, he led the state’s largest counterfeiting investigation, resulting in the seizure of over one million dollars of counterfeit NBA and NFL sporting apparel.
- In addition, he oversaw the successful prosecution of more than a dozen child pornographers.
- Eric Caron received the U.S. Attorney General’s Award for his “Endeavors in furthering the interests of U.S. National Security.”
- He also was recognized by the Secretary General of INTERPOL.
- His accomplishments have been reported by media outlets from around the world.
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He aided the very first Department of Justice prosecution of several executives who illegally provided a defense service and exported controlled U.S. technology to former Russian military facilities.
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The imported finished Russian technology was subsequently sold to the U.S. Military. In addition, he arrested a former dean of Moscow University and his Belarus business partner who was attempting to acquire US F-15J radar equipment.
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He’s a graduate of Northeastern University and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). He has completed a marathon, a triathlon and is a mixed martial artist.
Eric's Books, Media & Podcasts
Eric wanted to emulate his hero when he grew up—his Police Officer father, Sgt. Edmond Caron, a former Marine. His dad taught him valuable life lessons that formed his foundation and defined his path, and experience taught him the rest. The author became renowned as an expert in the field of terrorism, money laundering and transnational crime.
His investigations are detailed in this book “Switched On the Heart and Mind of a Special Agent” ranged from U.S. defense contractors and CIA going rogue, to WMD programs of Iran, China and Russia, to fire and intrigue in Dubai and Afghanistan. His most challenging case would be a mere mile from his family home, and grip the nation.
Throughout his twenty-five-year decorated career as a Special Agent and Diplomat for the U.S. Government, Caron discovered the powerful, life-saving effects of listening to one’s heart, mind and God-given instincts. The author came to think of this principle as being Switched On. Join this Special Agent as he takes you on a ride-along filled with twists and turns and reveals the key to becoming Switched On for life.
“Eric Caron is a close friend and former colleague I greatly admire. I highly recommend his book.”
Honorable Ronald K. Noble, INTERPOL Secretary General 2000—2014
Obtain the paperback, e-book or hard cover HERE.
Amazon Book Sales HERE.
Podcasts are HERE.
Media appearances are HERE.
Eric’s Website
Check back here often for Eric Caron’s timely updates on subjects such as the threats of:
Corporate & Int’l Crime | WMDs | Terrorism | Money Laundering
The following important articles and writings are available courtesy of Eric Caron. Open each section (+) to read the articles as titled. Newest article is at the top.
The Empty Chairs: Why America Failed Our Students
As 2021 came to an end, parents and their children prepared for a glorious Christmas feast, and joyfully planned for a new academic school year. For some parents, dreams turned into nightmares. This past Christmas day, empty seats were at some tables and parents sadly reminisced and anguished over their children’s funeral services. Christmas present, and the future will be filled with pain that didn’t have to be. Sadly, most if not all school attacks could have been prevented or mitigated, if schools had implemented and focused on a holistic security program called “left of boom”.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2019 – 2020, within the U.S. there were a total of 75 school shootings with 120 casualties (32 deaths and 88 injuries). There were an additional 37 reported school shootings with no casualties during this same time frame. The majority of these shootings occurred at high schools.
School districts have focused on deterring, and responding to school shootings as exemplified by new security measures in place at most schools. Normally a place of friendships and academic freedom, U.S. schools now appear and feel more like prisons. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on “hardening” our schools by way of metal detectors, bullet-proof glass, doors, cameras and other security devices as well as more armed police and teachers who regularly practice active shooter drills. But why haven’t these measures worked?
America has become a nation obsessed with crime and violence. We no longer share common values. We lack tolerance, social controls, and respect for authority and our criminal justice system. Our Godless and fatherless society has certainly contributed to violence in America. The American family has been dismantled, and those effects have directly been felt throughout our society to include schools.
State and federal resources are badly needed for several “left of boom” programs in all our schools focusing on holistic wellness for each student.
Rather than having to respond to school shootings, we need to prevent them, such as implementing mentoring programs. Mentoring has many benefits, which can have far-reaching implications for students and their overall academic performance. Mentors become someone their mentees can turn to when they are struggling with classes, or when they are unsure about something in life. They are trusted advisors.
In addition, students must be taught necessary life skills such as hygiene, finance, volunteering, wellness, effective communication skills, how to keep safe, basic etiquette, morals and values required for healthy, confident and stable kids.
EVERY child, starting in elementary school through high school, should be evaluated and graded three (3) times per year or as needed for mental health issues and threats of violence to self or others by a behavior assessment team (a sub-component of the school’s threat assessment team) comprised of a multidisciplinary staff to include; school leadership, faculty, law enforcement, an attorney and a mental health professional. The threat assessment team will also establish assessment and mitigation procedures for overall threats to the building, students and staff. The Department of Homeland Security has outlined procedures for developing and implementing a threat assessment team. The proposed behavior assessment team will provide intelligence to the threat assessment team to mitigate direct or indirect threats.
Training for ALL school staff, parents and students must be implemented to build a culture of safety, respect, trust and vigilance. We must break down the “codes of silence” and any stovepipes that prevent the behavior assessment team or threat assessment team from receiving information relating to concerning behavior. Connecting all the dots is essential when evaluating behavior of concern, and appropriate action must be taken once evaluated by the threat assessment team. Funding for these “left of boom” initiatives should come from the president’s Build Back Better bill. What better investment than the safety of our children.
We all must be “Switched On” to identify sudden changes of behavior in ALL children and be prepared to take action at a moment’s notice to prevent or thwart school attacks. These new holistic, student wellness safety standards need to be implemented now, and end the current school safety facade throughout America. All too often, the hallmark signs of a planned attack are missed, causing unbelievable heartbreak. As a nation, we have focused on responding to school shootings, but it’s all too little too late. We must focus on student’s mental health and create and promote a safe school climate.
I pray for all parents who found themselves sitting at Christmas tables with empty chairs, whose loved ones should not have died, and the parents of the shooters who should have been identified and stopped. We can… we must do better for the lives of all children.
Eric Caron is a Special Agent (Ret) with 25 years of service. He is the author of “Switched On – The Heart & Mind of a Special Agent.” His website is: Switchedonlife.com
Is it Traitorous to Question the Validity of the Intelligence Gathered by the U.S. Intelligence Community?
There has been endless media coverage lately about President Trump’s reaction to the intelligence presented to him regarding Russia and their purported interference in our 2016 presidential election. Many are outraged by the president’s apparent willingness to throw his own intelligence agencies under the bus, and by his willingness to give Vladimir Putin and Russia the
benefit of the doubt. Some in his own party have gone so far as to say that POTUS’s questioning of his own intelligence agencies is traitorous.
I encourage everyone to keep this in mind: U.S. Government Intelligence gathering is not an exact science—it’s an art—and those of us in the intelligence community sometimes get it wrong. I discovered this truth early in my twenty-five-year career working as a Special Agent forthe U.S. Government.
Think of it this way…in your daily life, you have to assess information all the time. And then you make decisions and possibly take action based on that information. Do you always get it right? Neither do we. There is always room for error. We government agents/analysts do our best, but we are only human, and there are many factors that come into play.
One major reason for error is the fact that information is not automatically equivalent to intelligence. Think of the information you might find on Google or Wikipedia. Just because information is posted online does not make it true or factual.
So, what’s the difference between information and intelligence? Only information that has undergone a certain process and protocol and deemed credible ever becomes intelligence. Here is my informal definition of intelligence: information which was previously unknown and which
will help lead to a certain conclusion and perhaps prompt a decision or action.
Let’s say a policymaker/politician is dealing with a certain issue and needs to make an informed decision. In such a case, it is fair to say that much would be at stake and many would be affected by the decision. So, great care must be taken to gather the highest quality intelligence available.
Intelligence agencies start out using scientific methods in the collecting of information. We rely upon a variety of sources, including but not limited to human sources, electronic or open sources, phone records, law enforcement data, educational research, and data gathered by our own senses.
We cast a large, wide net over a particular topic and set about to collect any and all information from various sources. Then, we pull that net up on the boat. Next, it is up to the professionals to sort through their catch, so to speak, to determine which information is intelligence. This requires careful assessment and analysis of the information, layer by layer, piece by piece, bit by bit.
This is where the art of assessment and analysis comes into play. The analyst/agent sits back and observes the picture painted by the intelligence. Now, he is like a painter, asking himself, What, if anything, needs to be filled in here for the picture to become clear?
Let’s say we’ve been collecting information for a few weeks, but the picture is not entirely clear. Maybe it’s missing a nose or an ear, so to speak. We may decide to present it anyway as our best guestimate. Then, it would be up to the policymakers/politicians to sit down and look at the intelligence and determine whether it is sufficient and definitive enough to be considered
actionable.
In this part of the process, the analyst/agent’s education, training, personal philosophy, political bias and sometimes even personal motives can threaten to taint the information and steer the conclusions that may be drawn from it. Analysts/agents can also be swayed by political pressure and internal agency pressure. Perhaps a politician/policymaker is “encouraging” them to paint a
certain picture in order to further their agenda or end game. Or, maybe an agent/analyst is trying to meet a certain requirement imposed by their particular agency, aware that if they don’t, they won’t be recommended for a promotion.
If analysts/agents are not Switched On (www.switchedonagent.com) they can let themselves be pressured into arriving at, or manipulating information to lead to, certain conclusions. It’s human nature.
These are just a few of the reasons that there are methods in place to ensure that analysts/agents work side by side as a team to collect, analyze, assess and assemble the information. It is standard protocol that more than one analyst/agent must think information has validity before it is declared intelligence and presented to the policymakers/politicians as such. Of course, this system of checks and balances is not an absolute guarantee against human error and bias.
When the process goes smoothly and is not tainted by any of the factors listed above, intelligence agencies can confidently present policymakers/politicians with good intelligence. Whether or not the intelligence is actionable, however, is not necessarily their call to make. That call must be made by the policymakers/politicians requesting the intelligence. After all, if the onus were on the intelligence agencies to draw conclusions and declare intelligence actionable or not, it would imbue them with duties, responsibilities and accountability outside their purview.
It differs from agency to agency, but sometimes agents/analysts are outright forbidden from providing conclusions on intelligence. Here’s a cautionary tale that perfectly illustrates the reasons behind this. Remember the big debacle over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) materials in Iraq? Intelligence indicated that Iraq had WMD—and reliance upon this intelligence
led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Let’s say, for example, that I was the analyst/agent whose intelligence had been relied upon for that military invasion where thousands of service people lost their lives. I’m sure you can see that this would have left me in an unenviable position.
There have been many cases I was involved in during my twenty-five years as a Special Agent where our intelligence community got it wrong. The Iraq War is only one such example. So, again I ask you, is it truly traitorous for our commander in chief to take a hard look at the intelligence presented to him?
U.S. Government Special Agent and Diplomat Eric Caron (Ret.) enjoyed a decorated twenty-five-year career investigating terrorism, money laundering and transnational crime. He is the Author of Switched On – The Heart & Mind of a Special Agent and Keynote Speaker.
Are we on the verge of WWIII?
Recently, I heard a homily from a Catholic priest who highlighted the universal adage, “Money can’t buy love or happiness.” Sadly, we now know, with certainty, money alone could not purchase peace in Afghanistan.
Partnering with an international crime syndicate masquerading as a government engaged in pervasive corruption was a fool’s errand… I would say criminal. Tragically, the biggest source fueling the corruption in Afghanistan was the United States via fraudulent U.S. contract activities such as: bribes and/or cash payments to corrupt Afghan officials, drug lords, bankers and thousands of others by our CIA.
How do I know? I was the lead Homeland Security official in Dubai, where most of the money was laundered. Unfortunately, diplomatic pressure on the UAE government from the U.S. State Department & Treasury to stem the flow of dirty Afghan money failed. The United States government estimates its deconstruction efforts these past 20 years has cost $300 million per day and nearly 2,500 U.S. military lives. According to the General Accounting Office, the United States also supplied various military equipment to Afghan police and military to include but not limited to: 208 aircraft, 2,000 bombs, 1,400 grenade launchers, 20,000 hand grenades & reconnaissance equipment. A DOD spokesman admitted that the department has no idea where this equipment is currently located within Afghanistan.
On January 17, 1961, President Eisenhower warned the American people in his farewell address to the nation, “Be aware of the military industrial complex…” His main concern was that military industries (defense contractors) would exert an undue influence on government policy to widen profits. Trillions of dollars were allocated and spent for Afghanistan Reconstruction with little to no positive results.
In a July 30, 2021, a quarterly report was submitted to the United States Congress by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. (SIGAR) This U.S. government agency was/is tasked to be the lead agency to conduct audits and investigations to identify fraud, waste and abuse relating to reconstruction contracts for Afghanistan. Two key findings were reported:
1. “The Risk of Doing the Wrong Thing Perfectly” “That is, programs could be deemed “successful” even if they had not achieved or contributed to broader, more important goals – such as creating an effective Afghan security force and a stable Afghanistan.”
2. “One of the report’s central themes” – “The pervasiveness of over optimism.” The report examines why the Afghan security forces have continued to struggle despite the U.S. assertion of success.
It is worthy to note, during this reporting period, SIGAR’s criminal investigations resulted in only two criminal informations or prosecutions and two guilty pleas of U.S. citizens. SIGAR’s total staff is 174 employees with only five staff members and five Afghan nationals assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. To date, SIGAR’s prosecution(s) focuses predominantly on U.S. citizens/officials. In December 2009, while still functioning as the Homeland Security attaché in Dubai, UAE, I was asked to lead a group of Special Agents from Homeland Security Investigations into Afghanistan to train Afghan police, customs and other officials in how to prevent dirty money from being laundered or “cleaned.” Within a few years, billions of dollars of cash had been smuggled into Dubai by corrupt Afghan officials, bankers and various organized crime groups involved in smuggling drugs, precious metals/gold and weapons. The expanding cultivation and smuggling of heroin put the entire U.S. and international investment in the reconstruction of Afghanistan at risk, and jeopardized any achievements the U.S. had made related to social issues, including health, education, women’s rights and the rule of law.
As I documented in my book, SWITCHED ON – THE HEART & MIND OF A SPECIAL AGENT, I was asked during this training to provide a lecture on corruption and how necessary it was to remove it, or it would metastasize and destroy their country. When I completed my session, one of the highest-ranking customs officials at Kabul Airport raised his hand not to ask a question, but to lecture me through an interpreter. In front of dozens of colleagues, with a voice of General Patton, he stood and stated, “If the U.S. government wanted to stop corruption, we needed to target senior Afghan government officials, not him or his associates in the room.” I knew he was correct. Ironically, it was widely reported how the CIA was perpetuating corruption with cash payments to the Afghanistan president’s office for over a decade. Then President Hamid Karzai at the time, acknowledged that bags of cash were delivered by the CIA for “various purposes” to his office. Interestingly, Karzai and many other Afghan officials were not just receiving payments from the U.S. but, from Iran and certainly other nations.
Furthermore, after a multi-year money laundering investigation of Mohammed Zia Salehi, a close associate to then-President Karzai, by Afghan and U.S. officials, a decision was made to arrest him in Afghanistan with the knowledge of Karzai. Unfortunately, within hours he was ordered released by President Karzai. It turned out Salehi was the CIA “bag man” receiving cash for Karzai and others. In twenty years, the Afghan government failed to prosecute any senior government officials for money laundering or corruption.
U.S. administrations throughout this twenty-year period have escalated the war in Afghanistan, and Congress approved billions of dollars for government contracts to support the war efforts. All had promised to crack down on corruption in Afghanistan, but it was all political grandstanding for all parties involved.
Essentially, the U.S. government made deals with the devil (corrupt Afghan officials, drug smugglers, arms traffickers, bankers, terrorists, etc.) We believed these criminals would assist us in the war efforts. We were sadly mistaken and allowed the CIA to hand out hundreds of millions of dollars like drunken sailors to “bad guys” with no accountability keeping the country of Afghanistan in turmoil.
The United States failed to understand that fighting corruption, which we were fueling, was not just a humanitarian cause or hyperbole. Fighting corruption was key to winning the war. Inevitably, lost due to greed and incompetence by senior U.S. Government officials within the White House, DOD, State & CIA.
“Are we on the verge of WWIII?” Countries such as Iran, Pakistan, China, and other nations are aligning with the “new” Afghan/Taliban government. Will we now capitulate to the Taliban and other Afghan terror organizations which are now well equipped with sophisticated U.S. military weapons, free to move with impunity with a global terror reach?
I believe that obtaining global peace and security is now jeopardized for generations to come.
Eric Caron is a Special Agent (Ret) with 25 years of service. He is the author of “Switched On – The Heart & Mind of a Special Agent.” His website is: Switchedonlife.com
Operation Russian Roulette
Liberal politicians have conspired with the liberal media outlets and progressive organizations to overthrow America. “Operation Russian Roulette” is a deadly game being played with our lives. Many people including the President and myself have been victims of this overt operation, and countless have died including police officers who represent our core values and beliefs.
Operation Russian Roulette is focused on brainwashing the American population into believing we are a racist apartheid country. Standing for the American flag and supporting law enforcement is seen as offensive, and your decision to not wear a mask is un-American and a criminal offense. This disinformation campaign is a distraction to the American people from the real threats to our civilization. Many are unaware they are even playing this deadly game.
Our liberal politicians and their cohorts have individual bullets loaded with socialist ideologies, criminals, and terrorists on a table. We are told to load one bullet into an individual chamber within the cylinder of a revolver, and we even agree to spin the cylinder unaware of which deadly bullet potentially awaits us. The liberal politicians then actually hold the “weapon” to our temples, and tell us to pull the trigger. Look no further than the war zone of Chicago with 611 homicides to date.
Operation Russian Roulette has proven very successful in just these last six (6) months. What was wrong is now right, and America could lose this deadly game!
Sir Winston Churchill, one of the most widely revered and iconic leaders in world history, said it best: “A lie get’s halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on.”
Stay “Switched On” America!
Eric Caron
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