Komer, R.W. (Robert William), 1922-2000

Robert William Komer, American government official and diplomat (born Feb. 23, 1922, Chicago, Ill.—died April 9, 2000, Arlington, Va.), served during the Vietnam War as Pres. Lyndon Johnson’s special assistant in charge of the U.S. government’s controversial “pacification” program to disseminate propaganda in South Vietnam and identify Vietcong agents working in the country. An army veteran who had served in World War II, Komer joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, rising to become a senior intelligence analyst before moving to the National Security Council under Pres. John F. Kennedy in 1961. He remained on the staff after Johnson took office and became one of the president’s closest advisers. Komer’s work in Vietnam lasted from 1966 to 1968; years later he called the war “a strategic disaster.” After the war, he served as an ambassador to Turkey and as undersecretary for defense policy in the Carter administration.