Thomas A. Brooks | |
|---|---|
 Rear Adm. Thomas Aloysius Brooks III, as he was on 30 May 1991 | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service | United States Navy |
| Rank | Rear Admiral |
| Commands | Director of Naval Intelligence |
Thomas A. Brooks is a retired Rear-Admiral of the US Navy and past Director of Naval Intelligence, which office he led from 1988 to 1991. [1] [2] [3]
Brooks obtained his bachelor's degree from Fordham University and Masters degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve and then came on active duty for the US Navy in 1958. [3]
Admiral Brooks described what he considered to be a cover-up of the 1967 USS Liberty incident as a “national disgrace” and stated “The Navy was ordered to hush this up, say nothing, and allow the sailors to say nothing. The Navy rolled over and played dead.” [4] [5] On the 24th anniversary of the attack (in 1991), he presented approximately 50 Liberty survivors gathered at the White House with a Presidential Unit Citation that had been signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson but never awarded. [6] [7]
For a time he served as the Assistant Naval Attaché in Istanbul. [3]
He was involved in the apprehension of the MS Achille Lauro terrorists, and in the 1986 United States bombing of Libya, by which Ronald Reagan taught Muammar Gaddafi not to bomb European discos. [2] Unfortunately the latter did not take well to the lesson and ordered the 21 December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded in mid-air and crashed on the town of Lockerbie in Scotland after a bomb detonated, killing all 259 people aboard, and 11 people in Lockerbie.
Brooks spent 33 years as a Naval Intelligence officer, and retired in 1991 after a three-year posting as George H. W. Bush's Director of Naval Intelligence. [3]
Brooks then spent 10 years in private industry with AT&T. [3]
In 1995, he was appointed to the Defense Policy Board. [3]
He is a co-author of the first English-language book on Admiral Gorshkov: The Man Who Challenged the U.S. Navy. [8]
The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy motor torpedo boats, on 8 June 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members, wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nautical miles northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish.
USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was a Belmont-class technical research ship that was attacked by Israel Defense Forces during the 1967 Six-Day War. She was originally built and served in World War II as a VC2-S-AP3 type Victory cargo ship named SS Simmons Victory. Her keel was laid down on 23 February 1945, under a Maritime Commission contract at Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation of Portland, Oregon.
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