{{short description|American diplomat (1922-2000)}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Robert Komer | honorific_suffix = | image = Image:Lyndon Johnson and Robert Komer.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Komer meeting with Lyndon Johnson | office = Under Secretary of Defense for Policy | predecessor = Stanley Rogers Resor | successor = Fred Iklé | president = Jimmy Carter | term_start = October 24, 1979 | term_end = January 20, 1981 | ambassador_from2 = United States | country2 = Turkey | term_start2 = December 3, 1968 | term_end2 = May 7, 1969 | president2 = Lyndon B. Johnson<br/>Richard Nixon | predecessor2 = Parker T. Hart | successor2 = William J. Handley | order3 = 3rd | office3 = Deputy National Security Advisor | predecessor3 = Carl Kaysen | successor3 = Francis M. Bator | term3 = 1965 | president3 = Lyndon B. Johnson | nickname = "Blowtorch Bob" | birth_name = Robert William Komer | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|02|23}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|04|09|1922|02|23}} | death_place = Arlington, Virginia, U.S. | allegiance = | branch = | service_years = | service_years_label = | rank = | rank_label = | servicenumber = <!-- Do not use data from primary sources such as service records --> | unit = | commands = | battles_label = | battles = World War II | awards = | memorials = | spouse = <!-- Add spouse if reliably sourced --> | relations = | laterwork = | signature = | signature_size = | signature_alt = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | module = | alma_mater = Harvard University (BA, MBA) }} '''Robert William "Blowtorch Bob" Komer''' (February 23, 1922 – April 9, 2000) was an American national security adviser known for managing Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support during the Vietnam War.
== Early life and education == Born in Chicago, Illinois and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Komer graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Business School, later training at Camp Ritchie and its Military Intelligence Training Center, making Komer one of the Ritchie Boys. Like many Ritchie Boys, he later joined the Central Intelligence Agency in its infancy in 1947.<ref name="NYtimes" />
== Career == Komer worked for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1947 to 1961. For part of that time, he was chief of the Estimates Staff in the Office of National Estimates.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=0250146001 |title=Affidavit of Robert W. Komer |date=April 19, 1984 |website=Virtual Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University |access-date=December 31, 2025 }}</ref> In 1961 he went to work in the White House, on the staff of the National Security Council, which was led by McGeorge Bundy. After Bundy's departure, Komer briefly succeeded Bundy as interim National Security Advisor, before he was assigned to the Vietnam pacification campaign.
While with the NSC, Komer and others negotiated with Israeli prime minister Levi Eshkol a memorandum of understanding (MOU) about Israeli nuclear capabilities. The March 10, 1965, MOU, variously interpreted since, said 'Israel would not be the first country to "introduce" nuclear weapons to the Middle East'.<ref>Avni, Benny,[http://www.newsweek.com/iran-and-syria-eye-israels-nukes-243682 "Iran and Syria Eye Israel’s Nukes"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121182039/http://www.newsweek.com/iran-and-syria-eye-israels-nukes-243682 |date=January 21, 2016 }}, ''Newsweek'', October 17, 2013. This source and others misspell Komer's last name as 'Comer'. For confirmation of correct spelling and confirmation of identification, for example: Avner Cohen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RGcwET30-noC&dq=eshkol-komer&pg=PA207 ''Israel and the Bomb''] (Columbia University Press) p. 207; or Hersh, Seymour, [https://books.google.com/books?id=doO-SLaJgbcC&q=Robert+komer+national+security+johnson+israel+eshkol+memorandum+nuclear ''The Samson option: Israel's nuclear arsenal''] (NY: Random House, 1991), p. 134; both via Google Books. Retrieved 2015-04-04.</ref>
Komer arrived in South Vietnam in May 1967 as the first head of the newly created Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support program, the most controversial aspect of which was the Phoenix program, which William Colby later testified resulted in 20,587 deaths.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE5D7153EF931A25757C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink |access-date=2008-10-11 |title=Robert Komer, 78, Figure in Vietnam, Dies |work=New York Times |date=2000-04-12 |first=Tim |last=Weiner }}<!-- back-up: http://www.mishalov.com/Komer.html--></ref> CORDS was an agency with a staff of both civilians and military personnel, but it fell under the authority of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson had sent Komer to South Vietnam to provide impetus to the nation-building efforts of the new organization. Komer was known for his brusque management style, which had endeared him to the president and earned him the nickname "Blowtorch Bob" from U.S. ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.<ref>Jones 2005: 107</ref> As head of CORDS, he commanded all pacification personnel in South Vietnam.<ref>Hunt 1995: 90.</ref>
However, the problems CORDS faced were intractable and the results of Komer's work ambiguous. In a revealing discussion with military historians,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/documents/D20104/ |access-date=2008-10-12 |title=Organization and Management of the New Model Pacification Program: 1966-1969 |year=1970 |author=Komer, Robert |version=D-20104-ARPA |publisher=RAND}} Declassified in 2005.</ref> Komer said "everybody and nobody" was responsible for counter-insurgency against the communist Vietcong guerrillas. He said it "fell between stools which accounted for the prolonged failure to push things on a large scale even though many correctly analyzed the need". Komer focused his work on the expansion of village militias loyal to the South Vietnamese government, believing they could provide local security against guerrillas.<ref>Hunt 1995: 90 - 93</ref>
Komer left South Vietnam in November 1968 and after working briefly as a consultant for the RAND Corporation was appointed ambassador to Turkey. He was succeeded as head of CORDS by William E. Colby, who would later become head of the CIA.<ref name=NYtimes>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/12/world/robert-komer-78-figure-in-vietnam-dies.html|title=Robert Komer, 78, Figure in Vietnam, Dies|date=12 April 2000|work=The New York Times|first=Tim |last=Weiner}}</ref>
Ambassador Komer, known for his success in garnering support in a hostile environment like Vietnam, tried to calm down the relations to the Turkish population, which was furious due the presence of sailors of the United States Navy 6th Fleet in Istanbul, who had an exclusive access to certain theaters. He ordered that the US military presence should be adapted to only the necessary, navy fleet visits were to be halted and NATO facilities would be operated by Turkey.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Silverman|first=Reuben|title=Turkey's ever present past: Stories from Turkish Republican History|publisher=Libra|year=2015|isbn=978-6059022477|pages=98}}</ref> But he was not as successful in Turkey as he was in Vietnam, and he left a special mark in Turkish history: on January 6, 1969, at the beginning of his tenure as the US ambassador to Turkey, his car was set on fire in Middle East Technical University<ref>Photographs of Komer's car aflame: [http://www.radikal.com.tr/Default.aspx?aType=GaleriHaber&Date=11.10.2008&ArticleID=902742&PAGE=16 Devrimden vazgeçmeyen okul: ODTÜ], ''Radikal''</ref> by a group of students who then formed the core of the Marxist-Leninist movement in Turkey under the banner of Dev-Genç. Komer was visiting the campus at the invitation of university president Kemal Kurdas, who relied on American donors to finance the building of the modern campus.
Komer joined the RAND Corporation in June 1970 as program manager for defense studies, which included RAND's ongoing work in South Vietnam.<ref name=Rand>{{cite book|last=Elliott|first=Mai|title=RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era|publisher=The Rand Corporation|year=2010|isbn=9780833047540|url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/corporate_pubs/CP564.html}}</ref>{{rp|383}} In July 1970 Komer returned to South Vietnam for a two week visit in which he toured 20 of the 44 provinces to assess the progress of pacification. On his return to the US he optimistically reported to various interested parties that the US and South Vietnam had beaten the Vietcong insurgency and controlled most of the population, but that the South Vietnamese government still needed to secure the support of the population to prevent the North Vietnamese from conducting a protracted struggle while waiting for the US to withdraw.<ref name=Rand/>{{rp|385–7}}
Komer also later worked in the Jimmy Carter administration as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.<ref name=NYtimes/>
In the 1980s, Komer became a vocal critic of "The Maritime Strategy", which was devised by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Komer argued against spending the resources for 600 ships, part of a controversial plan to deter and contain the Soviet Union.
==Personal life== Robert Komer's first marriage to Jane Komer ended in divorce. He later married Geraldine, who died in 1996.<ref name=NYtimes/>
== Awards and honors == On December 23, 1967, he was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson.
== Death and legacy == Komer died on April 9, 2000.<ref name=NYtimes/>
==Sources== *[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=28635 The American Presidency Project]
==References== <references/>
;Bibliography * Hunt, Richard A. ''Pacification: The American Struggle for Vietnam's Hearts and Minds'' (Boulder, CA: Westview Press, 1995). * Jones, Frank Leith. 'Blowtorch: Robert Komer and the Making of Vietnam Pacification Policy', ''Parameters'' (Autumn 2005). * Jones, Frank Leith. ''Blowtorch: Robert Komer, Vietnam, and American Cold War Strategy''. 2013. {{ISBN|9781612512280}} {{OCLC|813910349}} * Komer, Robert W. ''Bureaucracy Does Its Thing: Institutional Constraints on U.S.-GVN Performance in Vietnam'' (Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 1972). R-967-ARPA. url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R967.html
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20121215042844/http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552708 Interview About U.S. Maritime Strategy] from the [http://www.library.georgetown.edu/digital/krogh Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215060155/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/digital/krogh |date=December 15, 2012 }} *[http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/frank-jones-blowtorch Frank Jones Discusses Robert Komer] at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
{{S-start}} {{s-gov}} {{Succession box| before=Carl Kaysen| title=Deputy National Security Advisor| after=Francis M. Bator| years=1965 }} {{Succession box| before=Stanley Rogers Resor| title=Under Secretary of Defense for Policy| after=Fred Ikle| years=1979–1981}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Turkey|before=Parker T. Hart|after=William J. Handley|years=1968–1969}} {{S-end}}
{{US Ambassadors to Turkey}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Komer, Robert}} Category:1922 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:Ritchie Boys Category:United States government officials of the Vietnam War Category:United States deputy national security advisors Category:Diplomats from Chicago Category:20th-century American diplomats Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Turkey Category:United States under secretaries of defense for policy Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients