Editing Scott Ritter (section)

==Early and personal life==

The son of an Air Force officer and a military nurse,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-09-16 |title=Ex-Inspector's Stance on Iraq Sparks Storm |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-16-fg-ritter16-story.html |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Ritter was born into a military family in 1961 in [[Gainesville, Florida]]. He graduated from [[Kaiserslautern American High School]] in [[Kaiserslautern]] west of [[Mannheim|Mannheim, Germany]] in 1979. He earned a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree from [[Franklin & Marshall College]] in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania]]. He studied the [[history of the Soviet Union]] there and received departmental honors.<ref name="d"/>

While working in [[Votkinsk]] as an intelligence offer, Ritter met his second wife Marina Khatiashvili, a Soviet translator from Georgia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-09-16 |title=Ex-Inspector's Stance on Iraq Sparks Storm |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-16-fg-ritter16-story.html |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The couple married in 1991<ref name="wapo2002" /> and have two children; twin daughters.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-01-14 |title=Ex-UN weapons inspector in child-sex sting |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34864444 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>

=== Arrests and conviction for sex offenses ===
Ritter was the subject of two law enforcement [[sting operation]]s in 2001.<ref name="Warner 2011">{{cite news |last=Warner |first=Dave |date=April 12, 2011 |title=Sex trial of former U.N. weapons inspector opens |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sex-ritter-idUKTRE73B7PG20110412 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307204810/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sex-ritter-idUKTRE73B7PG20110412 |archive-date=March 7, 2022 |access-date=March 7, 2022 |work=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> He was charged in June 2001 with trying to set up a meeting with an undercover police officer posing as a 16-year-old girl.<ref name="CNN01232003">{{cite news |date=January 23, 2003 |title=Ex-arms inspector, war foe Ritter confirms 2001 arrest |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/01/22/ritter.arrest/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302193421/https://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/01/22/ritter.arrest/ |archive-date=March 2, 2022 |access-date=June 21, 2019 |work=CNN}}</ref><ref name="foxnews.com">{{cite news |date=January 23, 2003 |title=Scott Ritter: Timing of Arrest Reports Suspicious |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/former-u-n-weapons-inspector-scott-ritter-timing-of-arrest-reports-suspicious |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305155012/https://www.foxnews.com/story/former-u-n-weapons-inspector-scott-ritter-timing-of-arrest-reports-suspicious |archive-date=March 5, 2022 |access-date=June 21, 2019 |publisher=Fox News |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> He was charged with a [[misdemeanor]] crime of "attempted endangerment of the welfare of a child". The charge was dismissed and the record was sealed after he completed six months of pre-trial probation.<ref name="foxnews.com" /><ref name="BBC 120411" /> Ritter suggested at the time that the case, which coincided with his prominent dissent against the buildup to the Iraq War, was a smear campaign designed to silence him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Odato |first=James M. |date=November 30, 2014 |title=Scott Ritter paroled in online sex case |url=https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Scott-Ritter-paroled-in-online-sex-case-5936227.php |access-date=January 4, 2025 |work=Times Union}}</ref>  

Ritter was arrested again in November 2009<ref>{{Cite web |title="Sex sting in Poconos nets former chief U.N. weapons inspector", Pocono Record, January 14, 2010 |url=http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100114/NEWS/1140319 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116214612/http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100114/NEWS/1140319 |archive-date=January 16, 2010 |access-date=January 14, 2010}}</ref> over communications with a police decoy he met on an Internet chat site. Police said that he exposed himself, via a web camera, after the officer repeatedly identified himself as a 15-year-old girl.<ref name="Bai" /> The next month, Ritter waived his right to a preliminary hearing and was released on $25,000 unsecured bail. Charges included "unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communications facility, corruption of minors, indecent exposure, possessing instruments of crime, criminal attempt and criminal solicitation".<ref name="nypostponocos">{{cite news |date=January 14, 2010 |title=Poconos sex sting leads to arrest of former chief UN weapons inspector |url=http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/chief_not_publishpoconos_sex_sting_WGyPXivECwaSEiWGUZQ3AJ#ixzz0cc73vR5B |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422083939/http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/chief_not_publishpoconos_sex_sting_WGyPXivECwaSEiWGUZQ3AJ#ixzz0cc73vR5B |archive-date=April 22, 2012 |access-date=June 16, 2024 |work=[[New York Post]]}}</ref> Ritter rejected a [[plea bargain]] and was found guilty of all but the criminal attempt count in county court in [[Rochester, New York]] on April 14, 2011.<ref name="Bai" /><ref name="ponono">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120113031324/https://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article/?AID=%2F20110414%2FNEWS%2F110419856%2F-1%2FNEWSMAP "Verdict: Ex-UN weapons inspector Ritter guilty of all but one count in sex sting" (April 14, 2011) ''Ponono Record''] Retrieved April 14, 2011.</ref> In October 2011, he was sentenced to one and a half to five and a half years in prison.<ref name="rubinkam">{{cite news |last=Rubinkam |first=Michael |date=October 26, 2011 |title=Ex–UN inspector gets prison in Pa. sex case |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna45049386 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201025354/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna45049386 |archive-date=December 1, 2020 |access-date=June 21, 2019 |website=[[NBC News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> He was sent to [[State Correctional Institution – Laurel Highlands|Laurel Highlands]] state prison in [[Somerset County, Pennsylvania]], in March 2012 and paroled in September 2014.<ref name="TU2014" /><ref name="BBC 120411" /><ref name="Guardian 150411">{{cite news |date=April 15, 2011 |title=Former UN weapons inspector found guilty in online sex case |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/15/former-un-weapons-inspector-online-sex |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314070242/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/15/former-un-weapons-inspector-online-sex |archive-date=March 14, 2022 |access-date=June 21, 2019 |work=[[The Guardian]] |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

=== Passport seizure ===
In June 2024, US authorities seized Ritter's passport and prevented him from visiting Russia.<ref name="a042" /><ref name="passport" /> According to Ritter, three [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]] agents stopped him as he was about to board a flight to [[Istanbul]] going to the [[St. Petersburg International Economic Forum]].<ref name="passport" /> He said that the agents never showed him a warrant and never gave him a receipt when they seized his passport.<ref name="passport2">{{Cite news |date=June 5, 2024 |title=Scott Ritter Claims State Department Seized His Passport |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/scott-ritter-claims-state-department-seized-his-passport/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240612153725/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/scott-ritter-claims-state-department-seized-his-passport/ |archive-date=June 12, 2024 |access-date=June 12, 2024 |newspaper=The American Conservative}}</ref> [[Vladimir Putin]]'s spokesman [[Dmitry Peskov]] said that "details" about the situation were not clear. Peskov also said that restricting the travel of former intelligence agents "is practiced in almost all countries in relation to former intelligence officers" and that if Ritter was removed from the flight to stop him from speaking in Russia, then it was part of a “frenzied campaign to prevent U.S. citizens from establishing at least some contacts with Russia".<ref name="a042" />

=== FBI raid ===
{{See also|Russian interference in the 2024 United States elections}}
On August 7, 2024, the FBI conducted a raid of Ritter's home near Albany as part of efforts by the Department of Justice to combat Russian election interference.<ref name=":62">{{Cite news |title=FBI searching Delmar home of ex-UN weapons inspector Ritter |url=https://wnyt.com/top-stories/fbi-searching-delmar-home-of-ex-un-weapons-inspector-ritter/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807233935/https://wnyt.com/top-stories/fbi-searching-delmar-home-of-ex-un-weapons-inspector-ritter/ |archive-date=August 7, 2024 |access-date=August 8, 2024 |work=WNYT |location=Albany, NY}}</ref><ref name="Myers_Barnes_8/21/2014">{{cite web |last1=Myers |first1=Steven Lee |last2=Barnes |first2=Julian E. |date=August 21, 2024 |title=U.S. Investigating Americans Who Worked With Russian State Television |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/technology/us-fbi-russia-election-disinformation.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822224340/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/21/technology/us-fbi-russia-election-disinformation.html |archive-date=August 22, 2024 |access-date=August 23, 2024 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>