Earl Brian

Who is Earl Brian?

Dr. Earl Winfrey Brian, Jr. was a decorated combat surgeon with an aerial support unit for the United States Central Intelligence Agency's Vietnam War-era Phoenix Program. Upon completion of his tour of duty, he departed military service "as a major in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division with a chest full of honors, including the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal for Valor and Air Medal for Aerial Combat Duty." He then returned to California in 1970, where he became a member of then-Governor Ronald Reagan's "Kitchen Cabinet."

Questionable business practices and backroom politics soon consumed much of Brian's adult career, involving him during President Ronald Reagan's Administration in several major political scandals, most notably the so-called October Surprise Conspiracy, the bankruptcy case of Inslaw Inc. v. United States Government, and the confirmation hearings of Edwin Meese. In 1996, he was convicted on ten counts of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.