Richard Wilker

Richard E. Wilker was a former Laguna Beach resident described by arms manufacturer Tim LaFrance as an ex-CIA agent who served as the "technical director" on Pyramid International Security Consultants' security proposal to the Salvadoran government.¹ Wilker was a key link between Ronald Lister's weapons operations and the CIA.

Role with Pyramid International

Wilker appears as the technical director on Pyramid's proposal for a security project to the Salvadoran defense ministry. The biography section of the proposal boasts that the company had "technicians with the Central Intelligence Agency in physical security for 20 years."¹

LaFrance described how he met Lister through Wilker: "Wilker had heard about my stuff from the Agency. He said he had a friend who wanted to talk about a deal. I called to check and Langley said he [Wilker] was still working for the Agency. So I started doing business with Lister and Wilker." LaFrance said Lister was not officially a CIA employee; "He wasn't getting a paycheck from them. He may have said he did but his connection was... with Wilker. Very few people ever work directly for the Agency."¹

Intelligence Connections

Former CIA officer John Vandewerker, who once employed Wilker as a salesman, said he knew Lister and Wilker were involved in some business activity in El Salvador. "It was kind of touchy... as far as getting out of the country and all that kind of stuff." Vandewerker's name was found in the notebooks of investigative reporter Danny Casolaro after his death, in connection with the goings-on at the Cabazon Indian Reservation.¹