He's a member, too | ROBERT SCHAEFER

A Mensa member since 2000, Robert Schaefer is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer, diplomat, international defense expert and award-winning author. Earlier in 2014, Robert served as a Russian security analyst for NBC during the Olympics.

Interviewed in June 2014

Russian fascination: I was that strange kid who, when his family went to the beach for summer vacation, would read Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, and Pushkin; so my fascination with all things Russian started off at an early age. Later, when I became a Green Beret, I was given the choice to learn Russian, Chinese, or Arabic (because all Green Berets must be fluent in at least one foreign language). I immediately chose Russian. And because our studies went much deeper than language (culture, history, etc.) it was easy for me to become thoroughly immersed.

Putin predictability: We may not want to believe it, but President Putin has publicly stated that he wants to restore the power and prestige of Russia to “Soviet” levels. He will continue to find ways to bring former Soviet Republics back into Russia’s sphere of influence. His behavior is very consistent with his public statements. What people are missing is that the reason the United States isn’t responding more forcefully is that we are dependent upon Russian cooperation for the Northern Distribution Network for getting supplies in and out of Afghanistan while we work to draw down our forces.

Ukraine: The Crimea is lost; the Russians will not give it up. And depending on when this goes to print [This interview orignially went to print in June 2014], you’ll probably see Russian troops occupying parts of Eastern Ukraine in order to “protect” the Russian populations there from being “attacked” by the local Ukrainians. I’m not trying to be facetious, but the words I’m using in quotations will be the exact language the Russians will use as justification to send in troops.

My Olympic experience: How many people ever have the chance to go to a full Olympic games and see every event they want? Now how many of those people get paid to do that and get VIP treatment and a full wardrobe at the same time? It was better than a dream come true. Nancy Kerrigan (to Schaefer’s right in the photo) and I got to be pretty good friends, so when she dropped by my office and said, “Hey, I’ve got to go watch the Women’s Figure Skating Finals so I can comment on it later on, wanna go?” of course I said yes. Sitting at an Olympic final with one of the all-time greats in the sport and then having her explain the intricacies of everything going on is an incredible experience.

The breakfast buffet… Because it was the one place where all the talent would be in one place at the same time [the buffet allowed me to have] breakfast with a really interesting group — Cris Collinsworth, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, and Al Michaels. And it was always interesting to see what Johnny Weir would wear to breakfast in the mornings. He was pretty formal for breakfast and normally wore heels.

Close calls: When my team and I discovered [security threats], we notified the Executive Producer and the President of NBC Sports, who alerted U.S. and Russian authorities. Subsequently, last week the Russians finally publicly announced that they had prevented an attack during the games…. There was actually a lot that was not reported at the time because they didn’t directly impact the games, and if we had made a news item out of it, it would have detracted from the athletes’ accomplishments. I have a professional article that I’m working on now that will detail everything that actually happened during the games.

If I were hogtied, could You beat me?: No. Green Berets are like military Mensans — you have to pass the intelligence test at the highest levels to get accepted. And Green Berets always carry at least one very sharp knife with them and know how to use it. Ergo, there is no way I’m ever letting you hogtie me. However, we do get a lot of training on how to get out of those situations if it were to happen, so you might get a few good kicks in before I got out, but then it would be my turn.