The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security Council, as well as the coordinator of intelligence activities among and between the various US intelligence agencies.
William Oliver Studeman is a retired admiral of the United States Navy and former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, with two extended periods as acting Director of Central Intelligence. As deputy director of Central Intelligence, he served in the administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton under three directors of Central Intelligence, Robert Gates, R. James Woolsey Jr., and John M. Deutch. Studeman retired from the navy in 1995 after almost 35 years of service. Between 1988 and 1992 he was director of the National Security Agency; he was the Director of Naval Intelligence, from September 1985 to July 1988.
Ryszard Jerzy Kukliński was a Polish colonel and Cold War spy for NATO. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of brigadier general by Polish President Andrzej Duda. Kukliński passed top secret Soviet documents to the CIA between 1972 and 1981, including the Soviet plans for the invasion of Western Europe. The former United States National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński described him as "the first Polish officer in NATO."
The National Security Medal is a decoration of the United States of America officially established by President Harry S. Truman in Executive Order 10431 of January 19, 1953. The medal was originally awarded to any person, without regard to nationality, for distinguished achievement or outstanding contribution on or after July 26, 1947, in the field of intelligence relating to the national security of the United States.
James L. Pavitt was Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) for the CIA from 23 June 1999 until July 12, 2004, when he resigned a day after George Tenet. The CIA said the resignations was for personal reasons.
William Francis Raborn, Jr., was the United States Director of Central Intelligence from April 28, 1965 until June 30, 1966. He was also a career United States Navy officer who led the project to develop the Polaris missile system and retired from the navy in 1963 as a vice admiral.
The National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (NIDSM) is a decoration awarded for service to the United States Intelligence Community. The decoration is awarded to any member or contributor to the National Intelligence Community, either civilian or military, who distinguishes themselves by meritorious actions to the betterment of national security in the United States of America, through sustained and selfless service of the highest order.
David Atlee Phillips was a Central Intelligence Agency officer of 25 years and a recipient of the Career Intelligence Medal. Phillips rose to become the CIA's chief of operations for the Western hemisphere. In 1975, he founded the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), an alumni association comprising intelligence officers from all services.
Jack Gregory Downing was an American field officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He served as its Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) from 1997 until July 1999. He was the only person to act as the agency's station head in both Moscow and Beijing.
The Distinguished Intelligence Cross is the highest decoration awarded by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. It is given for "a voluntary act or acts of extraordinary heroism involving the acceptance of existing dangers with conspicuous fortitude and exemplary courage". Only a handful of people have been awarded this medal in the history of the agency, most posthumously. As a consequence, it is one of the rarest awards for valor in the United States.
S. Eugene Poteat was a retired senior Central Intelligence Agency executive. He was awarded the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit and the National Reconnaissance Office Meritorious Civilian Award. He was President of AFIO - the Association of Former Intelligence Officers for fifteen years, retiring in 2014, and appointed AFIO's President-emeritus in 2015. He previously served on the Board of Advisors of the International Spy Museum. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., teaching a course on "Technology, Intelligence, Security, and Statecraft".
Arthur Charles Lundahl KBE was a forerunner of American Cold War imagery intelligence (IMINT) and aerial reconnaissance known for his discovery of Soviet missile installations in Cuba in 1962 which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was responsible for establishing the Central Intelligence Agency's National Photographic Interpretation Center, a forerunner of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and led the photointerpretation section of the U-2 reconnaissance program. Analyzing reconnaissance films, he briefed presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy as well as the nation's top military and diplomatic officials. Lundahl provided critical intelligence on the arms race and many other international crises, including the Suez Crisis; Quemoy and Matsu, islands controlled by Taiwan; Tibet; Lebanon, and Laos.
The Intelligence Medal of Merit is awarded by the Central Intelligence Agency for performance of especially meritorious service or for achievement conspicuously above normal duties.
Jack Strong is a 2014 Polish political thriller film directed by Władysław Pasikowski, starring Marcin Dorociński, Maja Ostaszewska, Dagmara Dominczyk and Patrick Wilson. The film is based on the true story of Ryszard Kukliński, a Polish People's Army colonel who spied for the American Central Intelligence Agency during the height of the Cold War.
David Henry Blee served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from its founding in 1947 until his 1985 retirement. During World War II in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), he had worked in Southeast Asia. In the CIA, he served as Chief of Station (COS) in Asia and Africa, starting in the 1950s. He then led the CIA's Near East Division.
John J. Hicks was second director of National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC). Hicks was appointed as the Director of NPIC in July 1973, after retirement of Arthur C. Lundahl, first director of NPIC. He served as the Director of NPIC from July 1973 to May 1978.
Eloise Randolph Page was an American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. She was the first female officer in several agency roles.
David Warner Forden was an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He helped Ryszard Kukliński, a colonel in the Polish People's Army, pass along sensitive information on nations in the Warsaw Pact to the United States.
Elizabeth Sudmeier was an American spy and founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency. Sudmeier was involved with ThePetticoat Panel, a report about the status of women in the CIA.
George Varick Lauder was an American spy. A thirty-six year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, he best known (publicly) as their Director of Public Affairs in the 1980s as the CIA began to recraft their public image after finding it difficult to shed the reputation it gained in the mid-1970's as a rogue agency accused of shocking abuses of power. Previous to masterminding the public perception of the agency, Lauder was the Deputy Inspector General, the acting Chief of Latin American Division, and held a number of classified posts before then.
