The Combat Veterans For Congress PAC is endorsing one of the 23 previously endorsed Combat Veteran For Congress to move his campaign from running for Congress, to run for the US Senate in New York state; he is a fiscally conservative candidate who will work to rein in the out of control spending by the Obama Administration.  Special Operations Officer Gary Berntsen, USAF/CIA (R-NY-Senate) http://www.garyfornewyork.com  of Smithtown, Long Island, New York will be running against Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY-Senate) a man who votes in lock step with Senator Harry Reid and President Obama.  Please open the above attachment with the announcement, then kindly click on the below link to watch the video.  Gary received a BS in Political Science from the University of New Mexico.

                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm5w1ab38sM

Gary began his career in government as an enlisted man in the US Air Force in 1976 right out of high school.  He was a crash Firefighter and achieved the rank of Sergeant.  He was discharged in 1980 and matriculated at the University of New Mexico on the GI Bill; during his summers he attended USMC Platoon Leaders Course at Quantico, VA.  Prior to accepting his US Marine Corps commission, he was recruited by the CIA and served 20 years.   Gary is the retired CIA Officer who led CIA’s largest Para Military team on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001, that combat action was  in response to the 9/11 attacks.  He seized Kabul, Talaqan, and ran the Agency’s Jawbreaker Team in the Tora Bora Operation; Gary’s requests for more resources were not fulfilled by DOD, and Bin Laden escaped to the lawless tribal regions of Pakistan.  During his career in the CIA, he was a Chief of Station on three occasions, was Chief of Hizbballah Operations in CIA’s Counterterrorism Center (CTC) and led most of the important Counterterrorism deployments. 

Gary served in the CIA from 1982 to 2005.  He is the recipient of the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the Intelligence Star.  In 2005 he wrote the bestselling book “Jawbreaker, The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda”.  In 2006 at Intelcon, he was presented with the first William F. Buckley Award for Leadership.  In 2008, Gary authored a novel, “The Walk-In,” and published a policy manual for incoming Presidents and White House staff entitled “Human Intelligence, Counterterrorism, and National Leadership: A Practical Guide”.  In 2008 Gary served as the New York State Veterans Coalition Chairman for Senator John McCain’s and Governor Sarah Palin’s Presidential Campaign.  Gary has been endorsed by the Suffolk County's 9-12 Tea Party, by Cong Peter King, by First Vice-Chairman NYS Republican Committee Vincent Reda (Rockland),  Regional Vice-Chairman John Jay LaValle (Suffolk), Regional Vice-Chairman Joseph J. Savino (Bronx), Regional Vice-Chairman John DeSpirito III (Onondaga), Regional Vice-Chairman Jim Ellis (Franklin), Chairwoman Susan McNeil (Fulton), Chairman John Nolan (Saratoga), Chairman Robert Christman (Allegany).   

A Veteran is someone who, at one point of his life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America” for an amount “up to and including his life.”  Gary states that the Mission Statement for Combat Veterans For Congress is essentially the core of what his campaign will stand for; his Mission Statement concurs with the Combat Veterans For Congress PAC.  We look forward to working with Gary Berntsen, and are pleased that a Combat Veteran of his stature is running for Congress.  If you have friends, associates, or relatives who know voters New York  State, kindly pass this E-mail on to them, and ask them to support Gary Berntsen by working in his campaign, providing financial support for his campaign in any amount, and/or by networking with others who would be willing to support his campaign.