“To a remarkable extent, the ethos first of the World War II Office of Strategic Services, and then of its offspring, the CIA, was influenced by Yale men.” — Godfrey Hodgson in The New York Times in 1987
A brief history of some of the most notable 'Yale men' at the CIA
Sep. 21, 2020
James Jesus Angleton, OSS and CIA
“The Ghost"
Few figures in espionage history stand out as starkly as Angleton, a Yale poet who went on to become the chief of CIA Counterintelligence from 1954 to 1975, leaving behind a tangled web of intrigue that continues to fuel conspiracy theories. Early in his career, he was a close friend of Kim Philby, a British intelligence officer stationed in Washington, D.C., who turned out to be a double agent for the Soviet Union. Later, based on what others felt was suspect testimony from a KGB defector to the U.S., Angleton became convinced that there was a high-ranking mole within the CIA. His Ahab-like quest to find the mole devoured resources and distracted from other intelligence-gathering efforts, according to many historians.
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Tracy Barnes, OSS and CIA
The charmer
He helped plan the CIA-sponsored Guatemalan coup d’état in 1954 and was a key agency organizer of the disastrous Bay of Pigs. After leaving the agency, he returned to work at Yale in the president’s office. Those who know him recall his incredible charisma and likability.
John T. Downey, CIA
The prisoner
After graduating from Yale and joining the CIA, he was captured on a covert mission in China and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese government. He was ultimately released after 20 years and became a New Haven judge before dying in 2014.
Porter Goss, CIA
The director
Recruited to the CIA while a Yale student in the early 1960s, the Waterbury native served in a variety of roles that remain classified. He left the agency due to a mysterious case of blood poisoning in 1972 rumored to have been a botched assassination attempt. He returned as CIA director from 2004 to 2006.
William Sloane Coffin, CIA
The preacher
Coffin joined the CIA after graduating from Yale in 1950. He soon became disillusioned with the agency’s regime-change efforts and left. He attended Yale’s Divinity School and became an ordained Presbyterian minister. As Yale’s chaplain, he gained national attention for his criticism of the Vietnam War and his support of students who opposed the draft. He was convicted of conspiracy to encourage draft evasion by the U.S. government, but the ruling was overturned on appeal.
Joseph Weisberg
The screenwriter
After graduating from Yale in 1987, Joseph Weisberg served as a CIA officer for three years. He would go on to become a TV writer and draw on his time in the agency as creator of the Cold War spy thriller The Americans.
Richard Bissell, CIA
“The Mayor of Area 51”
A Yale graduate who then taught economics on campus, Bissell founded Area 51 in order to test the U-2 spy plane. He also oversaw the development of the first spy satellite and was one of the chief architects of the Bay of Pigs. His involvement in the latter led to him leaving the agency.
George H.W. Bush
The president
The prominent Greenwich resident, Texas politician and Yale graduate was named CIA director in 1976 in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the leak of the CIA’s “Family Jewels,” an internal report detailing controversial activities by the agency dating back to the 1950s. Bush is described on the agency’s website as “a leader who restored the morale and reputation of the CIA.” He is the only president in U.S. history to have directed the CIA.
Sherman Kent, OSS and CIA
“The Father of Intelligence Analysis”
A Yale graduate and later history professor before joining the OSS in 1942 and then the CIA, he pioneered the art of intelligence analysis. The CIA named its school for the subject after him in 2000.
Norman Holmes Pearson, OSS
The professor
He oversaw the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit in World War II. He returned to teaching after the war, helping to establish American Studies as a serious subject at Yale and beyond. He is believed to have kept an eye out for potential recruits on campus and encouraged other professors with agency connections to do the same.
James R. Lilley, CIA
The ambassador
A Russian major recruited to join the agency in the wood-paneled office of a professor he did not name in his memoir, Lilley worked in Asia for three decades before becoming a diplomat, including ambassador to China during the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticutmagazine/news-people/article/A-brief-history-of-some-of-the-most-notable-Yale-17045588.php