Fuller attended
Harvard University, where he earned first a
BA and then an
MA degree in
Russian and
Middle Eastern studies.
State Department Fuller joined the State Department of the United States, entering the
Foreign Service for assignments in
Europe,
Asia, and the Middle East. Fuller was
Kabul CIA Station Chief until 1978, when he was brought to
CIA headquarters in Washington, where he was appointed National Intelligence Officer for Near East and South Asia in 1982. In 1986, the CIA appointed him vice-chairman of the National Intelligence Council.
Iran–Contra Affair In 1987, Fuller was identified as the author of a 1985 study that, according to the
New York Times, was "instrumental" in the decision of the
Reagan Administration to secretly contact leaders in
Iran and "eventually led to the covert sale of United States weapons to Tehran in what became the
Iran–Contra affair." According to Fuller, he had revised his opinion as the situation developed, but though he had told Government officials, a written report on the change was not circulated. On December 1, 2017, the Istanbul chief public prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for Fuller based on his alleged involvement in the planning of the failed
2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and a wealthy Turkish national offered a reward of 3-million
Turkish lira (almost $800,000) for help in delivering Fuller and
Michael Rubin to Turkey to answer the Turkish allegations. The Turkish arrest warrant alleges Fuller met with other individuals-of-interest-to-prosecutors on the island of
Büyükada, near
Istanbul, on the night of July 15, 2016, simultaneous to the attempted coup. Fuller responded in December 2017: "On the night of the coup attempt in Turkey last year, I happened to have been addressing a group of 100 people or so right here in the town in western Canada where I have been living for the past 15 years." "I have not set foot in Turkey in the last five years." In 2002, Fuller emigrated to Canada, where he obtained citizenship.
ISIS A 2014 interview with Fuller quoted him as saying, "I think the United States is one of the key creators of [ISIS]. The United States did not plan the formation of
ISIS, but its destructive interventions in the Middle East and the war in Iraq were the basic causes of the birth of ISIS".{{Citation ==Death==