David Crane discusses his career from covert operations to international justice

When Ohio University student Ryann Davis sat down to interview alumnus David Crane about his career, she didn’t expect to get stories about his life that sounded like action movies about CIA agents and covert operations. 

Crane says he can't talk about all of his adventures in his special operations and intelligence career, but he says you'll get the picture if you watch Harrison Ford in "Clear and Present Danger" and Tom Hanks in "Charlie Wilson's War."

The two-time OHIO graduate discussed his time in the military, his work prosecuting international war crimes and much more during his recent interview with Davis.

• You can see the interview on the OHIO Changemakers website.

After earning his second degree from OHIO in 1973, Crane was in charge of 54 paratroopers in the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War. He later served as a legal advisor to some of America’s most elite special operations units, "surviving situations we actually shouldn't have survived," he said. 

Davis, this year’s recent recipient of the David Crane International Graduate Studies Fellowship, didn’t expect such a dramatic answer from her first question, “So the first question that I have is a fill in the blank kind of question. So, fill in the blank, I never thought I'd be someone who blank, but here I am.”

“I never thought I’d be the founding chief prosecutor of the International War Crimes Tribunal in West Africa,” Crane said, “standing literally up to my knees in bones, and I remember turning to my chief of investigations, and I was just furious. And I said we’re gonna get these (people) for what they’ve done to the people of Sierra Leone. I was surprised at the horror of what human beings could do to other human beings.”

Crane was determined to work for justice and explained that he developed a “righteous fury” because it was his responsibility to seek justice for the people of Sierra Leone.

Crane also discussed some of his more recent work as part of the interview.

“I have two major focuses, running the Global Accountability Network, which has projects around the world seeking justice for victims of atrocity. But, you know, I have also been very much involved in, for three intense years, of creating the special tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine, which came into fruition in June of this year,” Crane said.

Be open to new opportunities

Also, while talking with Davis, Crane shared some advice for OHIO students.

“Pick the jobs that excite you, try to get that job, work towards those jobs, and then again, new opportunities are going to hit you as you go through life that you never even expected,” Crane said.

It’s important to do the best work you can in your different jobs while you also stay prepared to move into new opportunities. It can be scary to take on some new challenges, but it is worth it, Crane said. 

“Saw the wood in front of you and work hard and do the best you can, but don't lock yourself in because you'd be surprised where you're going with this,” Crane said

“You just keep working hard, doing the best you can and boom, all of a sudden you'll be surprised where you'll be,” Crane said.

Supporting OHIO students

Crane earned two degrees from Ohio University, a Master of Arts in African Studies and a Bachelor of General Studies in History. He also holds a Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University.

In 2017, he was honored with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters Degree from Ohio University.

Today, he remains very active with OHIO. For Crane, returning to share advice with students, faculty and staff is rooted in a deep personal memory, a life-changing moment of epiphany sitting outside Chubb Hall in 1968, where his own love of learning was first sparked.

Wanting to recreate that same transformative door of opportunity for the next generation, Crane established the David Crane International Graduate Studies Fellowship Program.

That vision came full circle when Davis was named as a recipient of the fellowship.

Davis shared that receiving the fellowship helped alleviate financial burdens as she pursues her master's in communication and development studies within OHIO’s Center for International Studies.

"Within communication and development studies, my focus is more so in urban development and equitable development. So I'm starting my proposal process for my capstone project/thesis that I'll be doing next year. And I am right now planning on focusing on how communities communicate development to the community or how that is sort of negotiated between a city government and a community," Davis said, "I'm loving my program. I'm one of two American students out of 18. Everybody is from all over the world, West Africa, East Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia. There's so many different perspectives on not just culture, but education, community, and collaboration. It's been a really wonderful experience."

Seeing Davis thrive, Crane noted that she is the exact example of the potential and promise he hoped to support when he created the fellowship.