Peter Earnest

Peter Earnest (January 1, 1934 – February 13, 2022) was an American intelligence officer. He was the first director of the International Spy Museum.

Early life and education
Peter Earnest was born on January 1, 1934, to Emily (Keating) Earnest and Edwin Burchett Earnest in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the time of his birth, his father was posted as Foreign Service officer to the U.S. consulate in Edinburgh. He graduated in 1955 from Georgetown University with a Bachelor degree in history and political science.

Career
In 1955, Earnest joined the Marine Corps, and was sent on a tour to Japan.

After returning to the US in 1957 he joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He worked at the CIA for 36 years, largely in Europe and the Middle East. In the late 1970s, he helped safeguard Arkady Shevchenko, a United Nations official who became the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect to the United States. He later worked in the Inspector General’s office and as the CIA’s Senate liaison. He concluded his CIA career as the agency’s chief spokesperson, and retired from the CIA in 1994.

A few years later, he became director of the International Spy Museum, which opened in 2002. He retired from this position in 2017.

Books

 * with Maryann Karinch, Business Confidential: Lessons for Corporate Success From Inside the C.I.A. (AMACOM, 2010)
 * with Lynn M. Boughey, Harry Potter and the Art of Spying (Wise Ink Creative Publishing, 2014)