For years, countless media outlets, mainly those from Serbia and Republika Srpska, have been amplifying the importance of Steven E. Meyer, usually by attributing him the “titles” he never had.
On December 19, 2019, the website Nedeljnik published an article with the headline which indicates that “the former CIA Chief for the Balkans” in the author’s text for this magazine “proposed the solution for the issue of Kosovo”:
“The International border should have been drawn on the Ibar river…”: In a text for Nedeljnik, Former CIA Chief for the Balkans proposes a solution in the spirit of compromise and reconciliation.
“If Belgrade and Pristina could agree upon tete-a-tete meeting, perhaps it could be possible for them to find a true compromise that would be acceptable to both parties. They can start with understanding that both parties need to give up on something valuable and that it is inevitable to have those who will be “dissatisfied” both in Serbia and Kosovo and who will not accept any of the proposed compromises. Those individuals have to be sidelined and reserved”, Steven Meyer, a former CIA Chief for the Balkans, wrote for the new edition of Nedeljnik.
(…)
“International border should have been drawn on Ibar river. All above the border to the North belongs to Serbia and all to the South – belongs to independent Kosovo. Majority of Serbs from Kosovo live southern from Ibar river which means that Serbs who do not want to remain under the control of Kosovo could move north from the Ibar, which would be organized and paid by the United Nations, OSCE, EU or a combination of these three. Similarly, all Kosovo’s citizens from the north who do not want to live under the Serbian control could move to the south, the same way as Serbs.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was also mentioned in the article, specifically, its entity Republika Srpska, and “former CIA Chief for the Balkans” as he was portrayed, said that it would be rational to allow Republika Srpska to have a referendum regarding the unification of Republika Srpska and Serbia.
Meyer writes that it would be rational, in the spirit of true compromise and reconciliation, to allow referendums in Preševo valley in order to determine if they want to unify with Kosovo, as same as in Republika Srpska, in order to determine if they want unification with Serbia”.
Besides being published in the printed edition of Nedeljnik magazine, a text by Steven Meyer found its place on the Kosovo Online website as well. The same day, around 10 media from the region published similar articles claiming that Meyer was “a former CIA Chief for the Balkans”. A website B92 had paraphrased and partially quoted the article published both in Nedeljnik and Kosovo Online, but the headline of this article stated that Steven Meyer was “promoted” into “former CIA Chief”.
Former CIA Chief: Washington is coming back to the Balkans, and it is not a good thing
The article which was published by B92 received great attention in other media in the region, and it was shared in the identical form and with the identical headline, by more than 20 media. A couple of media replaced the word “Chief” with the phrase “first man of CIA”.
Former first men of CIA: America is coming back to the Balkans, and it is not a good thing (Tuzlanski.ba, Cazin.NET, Visokoin)
Tabloids from Serbia tried to add another dimension to this story: these equalized Meyer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) itself. In that light, a website Espreso, presented the words of Steven Meyer as an official “plan” of the CIA, with subtitles such as “evil plan” and “this is what CIA plans for us”. The claim that “the plan of CIA on the partition of Kosovo is discovered” then emerged in other media outlets as well, including Avaz, Kurir and Alo.
CIA SHOWED THE MAP OF PARTITION OF KOSOVO! SERBS ARE CORNERED! It is ‘take it or leave it’ offer and Belgrade must not decline.
It has long been known that Washington and its stance are crucial for the resolution of the Kosovo issue, and now the newest information from CIA was received: it is about the partition of Southern Serbian province on the border on Ibar river.
Therefore, Serbs would get, according to CIA plans, a territory in Northern Kosovo while being separated from Albanians by the river Ibar (…)
In the earlier text where he used to give similar statements, Meyer has often been portrayed as a “former CIA Chief for the Balkans”. That is how he had been described by Telegraf’s website in July of 2019, as well as in the interview for NIN magazine from August of 2019.
In the interview which was published in Blic magazine, which contains the title “former CIA Chief”, Meyer was portrayed as “an Assistant to Director of American Central Intelligence Agency for the Balkans. Besides media who shared the article and the headline of Blic in the original form, there were those who adjusted the title thus mentioning “Former Assistant to Director of CIA Steven”;
Former Assistant to Director of CIA Steven Meyer: B&H is unsustainable, Serbia has to claim RS (Klix, USK Info, Insajder)
At the beginning of 2017, when Meyer laid out almost identical “proposal for the solution to the issue of Kosovo” in another author’s texts for Nedeljnik, all media that had shared the article, including Nedeljnik itself, portrayed Meyer as a “former CIA Chief for the Balkan-
BELGRADE – Former Deputy of Chief of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the Balkans, Steven Meyer assesses that it is about time for a new policy of Serbia regarding Kosovo which presumes an exit from Brussels’ Process and new negotiations in more efficient framework with mandatory involvement of a question about sovereignty. In the author’s text for the new edition of Nedeljnik, Meyer said that the brand new agenda on managing the negotiations with Pristina should be shown by the Serbian government. The potential course of action should be a partition of Kosovo on ethnic lines where Serbia would have complete sovereignty over the territory on the north from the river Ibar.
Regarding the partition of Kosovo, Meyer had also spoken back in 2012. In this occasion SRNA and RTRS stated he is “the former Chief of CIA”, which is also the earliest appearance of this “title” that we managed to find:
Steven Meyer, who is the former Chief of CIA and professor at American National Defense University, said that the partition of Kosovo is the only fair solution since the issue of Kosovo has become a frozen conflict.
The oldest statement concerning Meyer’s title as “the former CIA Chief for the Balkans” we managed to found in a text published on Blic website on December 2, 2010:
Former CIA Chief for the Balkans: It is known who is loved in Serbia by America
Claim that Meyer is a “former CIA Chief for the Balkans” is perhaps even older since this phrase also shows up in the archive of news on the “Gradiška” website dating back to July of 2002. Meyer’s name is not mentioned in the text, but overall content corresponds to stances on the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina which Meyer had continuously advocated for:
According to the writings of certain newspapers, the partition of B&H is again on the agenda which was allegedly explained by the former CIA Chief for the Balkans. He anticipates partition in three areas with an eastern area which should belong to Serbia while Banja Luka is still questionable.
These and similar “titles” have been attributed to Meyer for years in the regional media, and often the very same media attributed him to different titles in distinct articles. This can be seen in the examples of Telegraf, Kurir and Blic.
Who is Steven Meyer?
Meyer’s biography is public, easily accessible and leaves no room for doubt that Steven E. Meyer has ever been a “Chief” of CIA, neither has he been Chief of any of CIA’s departments, nor “Assistant to Director of CIA”. Moreover, Meyer himself had never ascribed these titles to his name.
The website of Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security, where Meyer lectures on national security, features his biography and CV which both of which state that he used to be on the position of “an analyst and manager” within CIA. It is written that he left this agency in 2011, in addition to information that he used to be the Deputy Chief of the Interagency Balkans Task Force:
During the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, I was the Deputy Chief of the Interagency Balkans Task Forces (the government’s unified intelligence organization during that period). In this job, I was responsible to clear all finished intelligence, acted as a liaison between the US intelligence community and various agencies and departments in the Balkans, and travelled around the Balkans. I continue to work on the Balkans’ questions and I have also published a few works during that period.
Similar information could be found in other biographies of Meyer, including the one published on the website of TSM Global Consultants LLC company.
Professional engagement of Meyer in this company is actually directly connected to his vivid presence in regional media. TSM Global Consultants is a company managed by Obrad Kesić, Drina Vlastelić Rajić and Steven Meyer himself. Kesić and Vlastelić Rajić are registered as lobbyists of the Government of Republika Srpska in the US and both of them are employees of so-called The Republika Srpska Office for Cooperation, Trade and Investment.
The Republika Srpska Office for Cooperation, Trade and Investment or TSM Global Consultants
The Office which was opened in 2013 by Željka Cvijanović who at-the-time served as a Prime Minister of Republika Srpska is registered in the US as a lobbying company that advocates for interests of the RS Government. It is registered at the same address on which TSM Global Consultants company used to be registered as well.
The address of “the representative office” on the website of the Government of Republika Srpska is the following:
The address on TSM Global Consultants’ website:
The same address could be found on the official website of “the representative office”, on the website of Government of RS, as well as on the website of TSM Global Consultants. However, the registered address of the RS Office on the website of the US Department of Justice is somewhat different:
“A virtual tour” through premisses on this address indeed shows that in the room no. 201 is the office of Obrad Kesić, and in the room no. 202 is the office of Drina Rajić. However, there are no remarks that these premisses belong to RS Office for Cooperation, Trade and Investment, or to TSM Global Consultants.
Meyer has been involved in the activities of the RS Office for Cooperation, Trade and Investment since its foundation, and he was also present at the events organized by this Office, one of them being its opening ceremony, the reception organized in 2018, etc.
Over the past 10 years, Meyer had also published works on the politics in B&H and the region, in cooperation with both Obrad Kesić and Drina Vlastelić Rajić (Relief Web in 2009, TransConflict in 2012, etc.). He also appeared as a correspondent of many local media, especially those favouring the politics of Milorad Dodik.
The close connections of Meyer with lobbyist activities of RS Government are more than evident, but none of the media which portrayed him as former “Chief of CIA” didn’t mention these connections in their articles. It is interesting to add that in 2012 when Meyer was portrayed as “the former Chief of CIA” by Radio-Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS) for the first time – the website E-kapija portrayed him only as the Director of TSM Global Consultants Company.
On Wednesday, in his office, Milovan Topalović, the Mayor of Laktaši Municipality, hosted representatives from the American Company TSM Global Consultants LCC from Washington – Steven Meyer and Obrad Kesić
(…)
According to its Director, Steven Meyer, Washington-based TSM Global Consultants deals with business, political and media advising and they see a huge potential for cooperation in the municipality of Laktaši.
What was “the Central Intelligence Interagency Balkans Task Forces”?
The Central Intelligence Interagency Balkan Task Force (BTF) was founded in June of 1992, and it consisted of representatives from several different intelligence and military agencies from the USA.
The founding document of the Task Force, from which it could be seen that the memorandum on its foundation was issued by the Deputy Director of CIA (in text with acronym DCCI – Deputy Director of Central Intelligence), is available on official CIA website from 2010. It is also stated that Mr. James O. Carson from the CIA’s Office of European Analysis was appointed as the Task Forces Chief. Furthermore, in the document, it is stated that Mr. Carson’s Deputy will be designated by DIA (Defence Intelligence Agency).
There had been a multitude of declassified documents on the work of BTF, and those are available in the virtual library of CIA, within the collection titled “Bosnia, Intelligence, and the Clinton Presidency: The Role of Intelligence and Political Leadership in Ending the Bosnian War”.
Based on the document, it can be seen that the position of BTF used to be occupied by Daniel Wagner and Gene Wicklund in 1993; while in the period from 1994 to 1996, this position was occupied by Norman Schindler. In more than 300 publicly available documents of CIA, there is no single mentioning that position of Chief of BTF was ever occupied by Steven Mayer, nor did he ever claim this was true.
Also, the claim that the position of “Chief of CIA for the Balkans” had ever existed is also false, since the Task Force, as its name indicates, was an interagency group whose work involved the participation of CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and DIA (Defence Intelligence Agency) primarily. Besides these, NSA (National Security Agency), EURA (Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs), Recapture Tactics Team and “other agencies if needed” participated in work of BTF as well, and this can be found in the BTF’s memorandum.
To conclude, Steven E. Meyer had never been “the Chief of CIA”, “Deputy Chief of CIA” neither “the Chief of CIA for the Balkans”, though media in the region have been claiming this for years. Also, his attitudes cannot be interpreted as official “plans” of the agency which Meyer left eight years ago.
Since it is impossible to determine which media outlet was the first who published these claims, all articles that contain these claims, Raskrinkavanje ranks as the distribution of fake news. The claim that Meyer used to be “an Assistant to Director of CIA for the Balkans” Raskrinkavanje ranks as disinformation since this is a false description of the position that Meyer, in his own statements, used to hold in Interagency Balkans Task Force.
(Emir Zulejhić and Tijana Cvjetićanin, Raskrinkavanje.ba)
