A Summer’s Burning

Robert Eringer is an American author, investigative journalist and private-sector counterintelligence operative. Salon magazine described Eringer as an "obscure journalist" with ties to Clair George, the former deputy director of Operations of the CIA. Eringer freelanced for the FBI's Foreign Counter-Intelligence Division to assist with the apprehension of Edward Lee Howard, an ex-CIA officer who defected to the Soviet Union in 1985. In this ruse, Eringer commissioned Howard to write the Spy's Guide to Central Europe. Eringer describes his assignments for the FBI, which also included keeping tabs on Ira Einhorn, in his book Ruse: Undercover with FBI Counterintelligence (2008).