About thirty-six years ago, I experienced events similar to those currently unfolding in the United States today. I lived and worked in Moscow, Russia, and witnessed the nation's initial upheaval followed by its subsequent collapse. Gorbachev aimed to open Russia to the world, but a Communist coup ousted him, leading to the USSR's breakup as member countries declared independence. In 1991, Boris Yeltsin, a pivotal figure in dismantling the Soviet Union, signed the Belavezha Accords ending the USSR. Immense social turmoil, political instability, and chaos resulted as Russia shifted toward a doomed capitalist state. On the sidelines was Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy and then Vice Mayor of St. Petersburg. When I met him, he had a reserved, guarded manner and was clearly wary of Americans.

My father was a senior CIA operative with top-secret clearance. By age sixteen, I passed my background check and began working at his office, joining the CIA at seventeen. In my early years, I managed administrative tasks. Later on, I took charge of coding and decoding messages from throughout the western hemisphere.

After college, I got married, had two daughters, divorced, and called my dad for work. Within days I was working – again with a Top-Secret Clearance with Science Applications International Corporation – first in La Jolla, CA then in the Denver, CO. office. For eight years in Denver, I learned Russian and managed the largest Russian-language technical, intelligence, and military library in the United States. My other task was software configuration management. By the 1980’s I began travelling to the Soviet Union and then living in Moscow with my two younger children. They were enrolled in Moscow Public Schools.

My first job in the USSR was as a manufacturer representative for Information Handling Services (HIS), who’s primary products were automated systems of international technical standards and specifications – information badly needed in the USSR. This employment also included representing Janes Military Books (U.K.) and other information and publishing houses worldwide. My initial contract was secured with leading government information agencies and delivered to the Russian Embassy in D.C. During this key collaboration, the Soviet Union collapsed. Sergei Glasev, Deputy Minister for Foreign Economic Relations of Russia, asked U.S. Ambassador Robert Strauss for project funding, which was not provided.

I was then hired as the Chief of Party for a $5M USAID contract managed by Deloitte and Touche in Moscow. This family planning project brought U.S. manufactured contraceptives to Russia, and set up marketing distribution channels for Upjohn, Johnson and Johnson, and Proctor and Gamble. When this USAID-funded project ended in the 1990’s, I became the Acting President of the Center for Citizen Initiatives, a U.S. based nonprofit with several large multi-million-dollar projects and offices in six locations throughout Russia. With an annual budget of around $12M, we brought Russians to the U.S. for business training, brought U.S. businessmen and women to Russia to work with Russian businesses, opened the first business incubator in Russia for women, and created/managed several credit programs. I also worked as a Consultant to The World Bank and to the City of St. Petersburg. Anatoly Sobchuk – a pro-democracy Russian was the Mayor and Vladimir Putin was the Vice Mayor. Mr. Sobchuk was set to succeed Boris Yeltsin as Russia's Democratic President but was murdered one month after Mr. Putin took office.

After a year long stay in the U.S. so my youngest daughter could finish high school, I was hired in the late 1990’s to be the Chief of Party for Mercy Corps International (MCI) in Central Asia. This region covered five countries, with ties to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and oversight of over $30 million in international funding. MCI programs included micro-credit, business development, disaster relief, and working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in earthquake zones and mountainous regions. During this timeframe, I worked as a consultant to USAID and traveled to Afghanistan undercover wearing a Burqa and “local shoes” to access other program operations. My father died while I was in Turkmenistan, do I decided to stay in the U.S. and care for my mother for a while.

My next job was as the Executive Director of the Craft Center in Washington, D.C. They worked with artisans and craft’s men and women in 47 countries. With a World Bank contract, I spent a year in Peru helping develop extensive training for artisans – 13 volumes, now translated into six languages and worked with President Paul Kagame’s Rwanda government to develop crafts for international markets. I also accepted a consulting job with USAID and World Learning to travel to Bosnia and analyze the; current living conditions of Bosnia-Herzegovina in terms of socio-economic sectors, potential income generation ideas, public policies and current laws, and the commonality and potential income generation ideas of the Muslim women who wished to return to live in their pre-war homes. While these homes were still owned by these Muslim women, Serbia families had moved into them. Twenty-five years later, Muslim women in Bosnia are still hand knitting sweaters, hats, and gloves that are sold in major department stores worldwide.

I returned to live in Moscow in the 2000s as the Eastern European Regional Director for Kidsave International and to work with Russian orphans. Years later, Mr. Putin blocked American adoption of Russian orphans. I then returned to live in the U.S. and accepted employment as the Chief Executive with the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), a 50-year-old nonprofit with an eight-story building in downtown Chicago and offices in Phoenix and Denver, outreach in most U.S. cities, and affiliate offices worldwide. I traveled back to Africa with the ICA.

Now I have retired and am writing. My first book called From Democracy to Democrazy is a bestseller on Amazon. My Substack (www.egraham.substack.com) is published monthly in approximately 350 newspapers and distributed across 70 countries. You may subscribe for free or for $5/month. My second book called Survival, will be published early in 2026, and my book called The Cold War Myth - about my time with the CIA – should be published by the end of 2026.

Her Substack is: egraham.substack.com