John M. Deutch

John Deutch

John Mark Deutch (born July 27, 1938) was United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1994 to 1995 and Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from May 10, 1995 until December 14, 1996. He is presently an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and serves on the Board of Directors of Citigroup, Cummins, Raytheon, and Schlumberger Ltd.

Deutch was born in Brussels, Belgium, to a Russian Jewish father. He earned a bachelor's degree in History and Economics from Amherst College. In 1961, he earned an B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and, in 1966, he earned a PhD in Chemistry, both from MIT. He holds honorary degrees from Amherst College, University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and Northeastern University. From 1977 to 1980, he served in several positions for the U.S. Department of Energy: as Director of Energy Research, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Technology, and Undersecretary of the Department. He continued to serve on various government committees throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. He served as the provost of MIT from 1985 - 1990.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed him Director of Central Intelligence. However, Deutch was initially reluctant to accept the appointment. As head of the CIA, Deutch continued the policy of his predecessor R. James Woolsey to declassify records pertaining to U.S. covert operations during the Cold War. He put restraints on what he considered to be politically incorrect agent recruitment and sought to encourage more diversity at the Agency in order to include more women and minorities in its ranks.

Soon after Deutch's departure from the CIA in 1996 it was revealed that classified materials were being kept on several of Deutch's laptop computers designated as unclassified. In January of 1997, the CIA began a formal security investigation of the matter. Senior management at CIA declined to fully pursue the security breach. Over two years after his departure, the matter was referred to the department of Justice, where Attorney General Janet Reno declined prosecution. She did, however, recommend an investigation to determine whether Deutch should retain his security clearance. President Clinton pardoned Deutch on his last day in office.

See also

• Timeline of Cox Report controversy

External Links

• Deutch's MIT Biography
• "Nora Slatkin's Mission Impossible: The CIA," BusinessWeek, Feb. 26, 1996 (About the CIA executive director hired by Deutch to improve diversity at the CIA.)
• "Back-stabbing, CIA-style", Salon, Feb. 3, 2000
• "Who was John Deutch spying for?, disinformation.com, Oct. 18, 2000