Chief of Station

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Chief of Station ( COS , dt "station manager".) Is the official official internal official title for each resident of the CIA in a US - embassy abroad.

Order and status

The post is regularly filled by experienced operations managers from the semi-independent National Clandestine Service , the successor to the Directorate of Operations . The Chief of Station is responsible for all intelligence- related questions in the host country (operational area), but in particular for managing human sources ( human intelligence ).

Usually he is legendary as an employee of the State Department , often as a press , cultural or economic attaché , but in any case in a function in which he is officially accredited and thus enjoys diplomatic immunity . In allied countries, it is common for the relevant authorities it concerns to know who the US Embassy COS is. In the case of neutral or hostile host countries, there are also diplomatic contacts at the intelligence service level, but someone is often given unofficially as a COS, while the official who performs the actual corresponding function has a hidden other position within the embassy staff, i.e. operates more or less undercover .

It can happen that intelligence and covert operations are carried out in its area of ​​responsibility without the knowledge of the COS . However, this tends to happen in exceptional situations.

In the event of exposure or documented activity by the COS that is incompatible with its official diplomatic function and status (if he is exposed and caught doing illegal intelligence work), he will be declared a persona non grata and expelled because he is due to his diplomatic immunity cannot be legally prosecuted. It is international practice that a deportation with this background is answered accordingly by the other side. In this case, diplomats are also declared an “undesirable person”, regardless of whether or not they actually acted illegally. As a rule, parity is observed - if one state identifies the cultural attaché and two employees, then the other state will send as many diplomats in a comparable position to the country.

Known Chief of Stations

  • Cofer Black: Khartoum , Sudan from 1993 to 1995
  • Larry Devlin: Congo 1960 and 1961.
  • Stephen Kappes: Moscow , New Delhi and Frankfurt
  • William Nelson: Taiwan 1963
  • Henry Pleasants, Bern, Switzerland, 1950 to 1956; Bonn, Germany, 1956 to 1964
  • Thomas Polgar: Frankfurt, 1949, Saigon, from 1972 to 1975
  • Jose Rodriguez: Panama , Mexico , and the Dominican Republic .
  • Theodore Shackley: Laos 1966 to 1968, Saigon 1968 to 1972
  • John Stockwell: Katanga 1968, Burundi 1970.
  • Andrew Warren: Algeria 2007-08 on charges of rape.
  • Richard Welch: Greece 1975, killed in an attack by the terrorist organization November 17th .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mayer, Jane (2009), "The Secret History," The New Yorker , Jun 22, 2009, 54.
  2. ^ A b James H. Critchfield : Partners at Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2003. x + 243 pp, ISBN 1-59114-136-2 .
  3. ^ Bill Kelly: Felix Leiter = Henry Pleasants . November 4, 2008. 
  4. ^ Tape Inquiry: Ex-Spymaster in the Middle. New York Times , February 20, 2008, accessed January 9, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Exclusive: CIA Station Chief in Algeria Accused of Rapes. ABC News, January 28, 2009, accessed January 9, 2011 .
  6. ↑ Weekly Intelligence Notes # 31-02. Greek Assassins Arrested. Association of Former Intelligence Officers, August 5, 2002, accessed January 9, 2011 : "The third of the Greek terrorists accused of the assassination of CIA Station Chief Richard S. Welch in 1975 has been arrested"

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