Wilbur Crane "Bill" Eveland III (July 1, 1918 – January 2, 1990) was a World War II veteran, a CIA station chief, and critic of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
At 17, Eveland lied about his age so that he could join a Marine Corps Reserve battalion at Puget Sound Navy Yard but failed the West Point written test when he took the examination the next year.
From 1959 to 1961, Eveland was on CIA assignment to Rome, Italy, under cover as a Vinnell Corporation engineering company executive in charge of petroleum related construction, maintenance, and training projects in the Middle East and Africa.
Eveland decided to write a book documenting American policy in the Middle East while watching the port of Beirut burn at the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975.
In 1986 Eveland sued the CIA and its director at the time, William J. Casey over the conduct of the United States Government and its policies in the Middle East.