James H. Critchfield

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James Hardesty Critchfield (born January 30, 1917 in Hunter , North Dakota , † April 22, 2003 in Williamsburg , Virginia ) was an American officer and chief executive of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Life

Critchfield studied at North Dakota State University until 1939 . During the Second World War he was an officer in the United States Army and fought in North Africa and the European theater of war, most recently as a colonel in the 36th Infantry Division .

In 1948 Critchfield became an employee of the CIA, for which he was responsible until 1955 as a liaison officer in the establishment and use of the West German intelligence service Organization Gehlen . After the repeal of the Western Allied occupation statute in 1955, he left Germany and headed the Eastern Europe department of the CIA from 1956 to 1961. 1961–1971 Critchfield was director of the CIA's Middle East division .

In the 1970s, Critchfield was the national intelligence officer for energy issues in the intelligence think tank National Intelligence Council (NIC). In 1974 he retired. Then Critchfield was an energy policy advisor in the Middle East, including for the Sultan of Oman . He was president of the consulting firm Tetra Tech International , a Honeywell, Inc. subsidiary. He was also an advisor to the inter-agency working group on the release of previously secret Japanese and German war crimes files ( Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group ).

Critchfield died of cancer in 2003. He was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. Critchfield's memories of his secret service work in Germany were published posthumously under the title Partners at Creation .

Publications

  • Partners at Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2003, ISBN 1-59114-136-2 , German: Order Pullach. The Gehlen Organization 1948-1956. Mittler, Hamburg a. a. 2005, ISBN 3-8132-0848-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jerry Richardson: James H. Critchfield played key roles in both hot and cold wars. ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: NDSU -Magazine 4 (2003), No. 1, pp. 42-45.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ndsu.edu
  2. ↑ a b c Biographical sketch  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: dead link / repository.library.georgetown.edu  In: James H. Critchfield Papers. Georgetown University Manuscripts (accessed September 20, 2014).
  3. ↑ IWG: Final Report to the United States Congress, April 2007, p. VI ( PDF , 7 MB, accessed on September 20, 2014).
personal data
SURNAME Critchfield, James H.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Critchfield, James Hardesty (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American officer and chief executive of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Hunter , North Dakota
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 2003
Place of death Williamsburg , Virginia