Hard Measures

by Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.

  Subsequently, I met privately with Morell on one occasion and we talked about the tape saga. I appreciated his thorough knowledge of the record and his willingness to avoid a prolonged process and make a quick decision.

  On December 20, 2011, I was invited to come in to CIA headquarters to hear the verdict. Morell warmly welcomed me to his seventh-floor office and regretfully let me know his decision. He essentially agreed with my assessment that you cannot be insubordinate to people outside your chain of command and, without directly saying so, conceded my point that they would not be able to get Director Goss or President Bush to characterize my actions as insubordination.

  Instead, Morell said, he had recommended to General Petraeus, the new CIA director, that I receive a letter of reprimand for failing to give the system “one more chance” to do the right thing. He said I knew, or should have known, that some people in government were uncomfortable with proceeding with the destruction of the tapes. “Who?” I asked. He said among them was the vice president’s chief of staff. At that moment I couldn’t even remember who that had been. Morell reminded me it was David Addington. But I have no recollection of ever hearing such a view from him. Mike said he found some reference to Addington’s position by reading files. He also said that the president’s counsel, Harriet Miers, and Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte, had expressed concern—and he was sure I knew about them because he had just read the chapter on the tapes from the draft of this memoir, which I had dutifully submitted to the CIA for clearance. I told him that I never heard anything directly from either of them but had eventually heard that they were among those who held the view that the time wasn’t ripe to get rid of the tapes. However, I viewed those expressions as opinions and not direct orders. Since I was told by Agency lawyers I was within my rights to act—I did.

  Nonetheless, Morell said they had decided to give me the letter. He handed me a copy with classification markings on it—meaning I would not even be able to keep a copy. I was asked to sign the letter, which I did with the understanding that my signature indicated only that I had seen the letter, not that I agreed with it.

  I asked what the next steps would be. Morell told me that the Agency was obliged to brief the White House about it but that he did not believe it was an issue that was of much interest to them. He said the House and Senate Intelligence Oversight Committees would also be briefed. It was my view, I told him, that the existence of the reprimand would leak from one of those two bodies.

  The practical implication of the letter is nil. But in my view the letter and the entire process are an embarrassment—to the Agency, not to me. CIA officers who were in harm’s way first asked the CIA to deal with a threat to their safety presented by the tapes in August 2002. More than three years later, after endless hand-wringing, dithering, and stalling on the part of the bureaucracy, I made a decision to act to protect my people. A three-year criminal investigation that followed showed that there was no legal impediment to my doing so. To say that I should have given the bureaucracy “one last chance” is incongruous. If I had done so, we would still be waiting for the system to make up its mind. If the Agency ever declassifies my letter of reprimand and gives me a copy, I’ll have it framed. To me it says: Courage to Act.

  My love of horses goes back to my early childhood. Here I am sitting on our milkman’s horse in Buga, Colombia. My father is behind me. My parents later learned that the milkman was an insurgent. Rodriguez family photo

  As a young CIA officer in the early 1980s I was able to ride horses in a number of locations throughout Latin America, even reconnecting with someone from whom I took riding lessons as a boy, then-Captain Luis Garcia Meza of Bolivia. In 1980 Garcia Meza had taken over in a coup and had become the first narcodictator in the continent.

  In 1986 I was working in El Salvador, where the Fidel Castro–inspired Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN in Spanish) was conducting a violent civil war. Here we are helping distribute humanitarian aid in an area heavily controlled by the rebels.

  CIA Director R. James Woolsey presented me the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal in 1994 for my work in Latin America during the early 1990s. I treasured this award because I was nominated for it by Ambassador Dean Hinton, who was known to be very demanding of intelligence officers.

  In 1995 I led an Agency delegation to China to discuss counternarcotics cooperation. I was touched to hear that at a formal dinner our hosts planned to serve “rice and beans,” a tribute, I thought, to my Hispanic heritage. Later my staff told me it was really “rice and bees.”

  George Tenet, then deputy director of Central Intelligence, presenting me with an Intelligence Community award in 1996.

  Patti and I talk with former president George H. W. Bush at a September 1997 event at Blair House in Washington, D.C., marking the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the CIA. President Bush was CIA director when I entered on duty at the CIA in 1976.

  With Patti at the celebration of the CIA’s fiftieth anniversary—September 1997.

  Our sons, Nic and Alec, at their grandfather’s farm in Puerto Rico, December 1997.

  Alec (middle), Nic, and I riding our horses in La Marquesa National Park on the outskirts of Mexico City, August 6, 2001. Just before our return to the United States.

  A view from an Agency helicopter early in the war in Afghanistan.

  A photo I took of a helicopter early in the Afghan war.

  On a visit to Afghanistan in March 2002. We took care to try to blend in with the locals with our attire.

  Afghan president Hamid Karzai hitched a ride on a CIA aircraft traveling from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to Kabul, circa 2002.

  As part of my duties as chief of CTC and later as head of the National Clandestine Service, I led many delegations to meetings with foreign intelligence services. I can’t show the people on the other side of the table.

  A family vacation in the Dominican Republic, December 2002.

  My passion for riding horses and motorcycles extends to other forms of transport, too. This was a trip to Egypt in 2003.

  No trip to Baghdad in 2004 was complete without a visit to one of Saddam Hussein’s former “sex palaces”—where he used to entertain his mistresses.

  On a trip to Yemen in 2004, I try out a Russian-made Dishka light machine gun.

  Yemen had become a center of increased counterterrorism focus by 2004. Here I am mixing with some tribal elements.

  Addressing Yemeni counterterrorism troops in 2004.

  CIA Director General Mike Hayden and I at a luncheon hosted by General Ashfaq Kayani, then head of Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, in August 2006. Just a few days later, Kayani and I would make some critical decisions trying to stop those plotting to bring down aircraft with liquid explosives.

  On a trip to Egypt in 2006, I met with Omar Suleiman, then head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (EGIS).

  Actor Robert De Niro learned how to pick locks for a scene in his 1988 movie, Midnight Run. Years later, I took him to a CIA facility where Agency officers have perfected the art.

  CIA Director Porter Goss presented me with the “Directors Medal” on his departure. (I had previously received one from former DCI George Tenet.) The inscription on the back of the rarely awarded medal reads “Extraordinary Fidelity and Essential Service.” Official CIA photo

  General Mike Hayden, the tenth and final CIA director I worked for, presented me with my third “Directors Medal” when I stepped down as chief of the National Clandestine Service in August 2007 and prepared to retire. Official CIA photo

  Patti and I at a farewell reception in my honor as I stepped down as chief of the NCS. Although I retired four months later, there was no retirement ceremony, because by that time I was under investigation by the Department of Justice.

  An aerial shot of CIA headquarters. In the foreground is the “Original Headquarters Building” and to the rear is the “New Headquarters Building.” ©2011 Greg E. M
athieson, Sr. / MAI

  The seal of the CIA is embedded in the floor of the main lobby in the Original Headquarters Building in McLean, Virginia. No matter how many times I walked across it, the sight always gave me a thrill. ©2011 Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / MAI

  There is a “Wall of Honor” in the lobby of CIA headquarters on which a star is carved in marble to represent each officer who gave his or her life in the line of duty. When I first entered on duty with the CIA there were fewer than forty stars on the wall. Today there are more than one hundred. ©2011 Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / MAI

  Below the stars carved in the wall is a book listing the fallen officers. Because of the secret nature of the work they did, often the names must be omitted. Those who remain undercover, even in death, are represented in the book by a star and a blank space where their name might have been inscribed. ©2011 Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / MAI

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Words cannot describe the sense of amazement that I felt when I first walked into the imposing lobby of the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters building as a new employee in November 1976. The enormous Agency seal on the marble floor, the stars of the fallen heroes on the wall, the grand statue of the father of American intelligence, General Donovan, sent chills down my spine as I reflected on the legacy and mystique of the organization I had just joined. I was filled with a mixture of excitement and anxiety as I contemplated the challenge of a career as a clandestine intelligence officer for the United States of America.

  I retired thirty-one years later after a fabulous career that took me from a career trainee to the head of the National Clandestine Service. During those thirty-one years I had the good fortune to work with some of the most dedicated, patriotic, bright, and capable public servants in the U.S. government. As I climbed the ranks of my Agency, I learned much about leadership from two early supervisors. Jim Adkins taught me by example to protect the people who worked for me and not be afraid of doing the right thing even if it defied conventional wisdom. Jack McCavitt protected me and others who worked for him from the imbroglio of Iran-Contra. He also taught me not to take myself too seriously and to inject humor into everyday life. There were others who were running the Latin America Division in the mideighties and early nineties who taught me the craft of clandestine human operations and who served as mentors and advisors as I assumed positions of increasing responsibility. For fear of leaving someone out, I want to express my gratitude to them as a group.

  I want to thank those who worked most closely with me during the last ten years of my career. Since many of them cannot have their full names revealed publicly, I choose to identify them all by first names only. My gratitude goes out to special assistants Libby, Peggy, Assunta, and Donna. As gatekeepers to my office they reflected the sense of openness, friendliness, and accessibility that I wanted to convey to all who called. A very special thanks to my chief of staff and loyal friend “Jane.” She endured intense scrutiny by federal agents and the special prosecutor because of her close working relationship with me. I will forever be grateful to her for her wise counsel and dedicated service. I thank “Sara” for her brilliant work and immense contribution in CTC and as a component chief in the NCS. I am grateful to my favorite rapper, Anne Marie, and to all my executive assistants who got up so early and worked so hard to support me. I thank Ric, Paco, and Fernando for their friendship and loyal service. We shared very special times together.

  I was fortunate to work with many excellent deputies both overseas and at headquarters. I thank Clay, Marilyn, Linda, Pat, Gerry, Bill, Tom, Bruce, Phil, Rob, John, and Hendrik. A special thanks to Terry, Jed, Bob, and Cindy.

  Over the years there were proposals from Congress and outside experts to extract the clandestine service from the CIA to create a stand-alone human intelligence organization. I opposed those proposals because I believed the clandestine service needed the other three Agency directorates to do its mission. The Agency has the best analysts in the world. I worked closely with many of them over the years and respect their work and their important contribution to the intelligence mission. We have the brightest scientists and technologists in the intelligence community. They give the NCS that added edge that allows it to be the premier human intelligence service in the world. Our support personnel in the Directorate of Support never get the recognition they deserve. Whether serving side by side with the operators in the field or supporting us from headquarters, they are indispensable.

  I thank the OGC lawyers who were assigned to my office in the Counterterrorism Center and in the NCS. I am sorry for the difficulty that my decisions have created for you.

  I worked closely with three Agency directors. I thank George Tenet for giving me the opportunity to lead the Counterterrorism Center and for his leadership in the days, months, and years after 9/11. I am grateful to Porter Goss for his support and friendship during my tenure as head of the clandestine service and his defense of our mission and our officers. I will forever be thankful to General Mike Hayden for his personal support of me during the tapes investigation. My decision to destroy the tapes was made before he became director, and he could have easily punted. Instead, he not only supported my actions, he became a lonely but articulate and vocal defender of the Agency’s interrogation programs. Thank you, Mike, for being a stand-up guy!

  I had the opportunity to work closely with four other outstanding military officers who were assigned to the CIA after 9/11. They were Vice Admiral Bert Calland, USN, Ret., Lieutenant General John “Soup” Campbell, USAF, Ret., Major General Mike Ennis, USMC, Ret., and Brigadier General Mike Jones, USA, Ret. The CIA has never worked more closely with the U.S. military than in the past ten years, and these officers brought us closer together. They are also the type of guys I would like to share a beer with anytime, anywhere. Thank you, gentlemen!

  I worked closely with the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities at home and abroad and always appreciated their valuable collaboration. I want to thank in particular retired FBI agents Luis Fernandez and Raul Roldan.

  I had the good fortune to work with excellent U.S ambassadors during my seven overseas tours of duty. In particular, I am grateful to Ambassadors Dean Hinton, Ed Corr, and Jeff Davidow for their leadership and their wisdom.

  I thank my successor as director of the National Clandestine Service, Mike Sulick, for his strong support for me during the special prosecutor’s three-year investigation. I also thank Jim Pavitt, John Bennett, Dave Carey, Mike Morell, John McLaughlin, and Buzzy Krongard. A special recognition to our departed colleague and friend Ben Bonk, one of the gentlest and most decent human beings I ever knew. We also cherish the memories of our departed colleagues Les and Jonathan.

  My employment prospects following retirement in 2008 were adversely affected by all the media hype surrounding the tapes issue. I want to thank Jeremy King from Benchmark Executive Search for helping me. I am thankful to my friends and colleagues in the private sector Andy, Frank, Chris, and Armand for taking a chance on me. I thank them for their patience in bringing me in from the cold and introducing me to a new and interesting world.

  I thank my collaborator, Bill Harlow, for taking my story and turning it into an interesting and compelling book. I always marveled at the ease and speed with which Bill took my words and turned them into clear and readable prose. When I first approached Bill about helping me with this book I did not realize what a partnership it would become and how much trust and confidence in each other it would require. We have become very close as a result and I am grateful for his contribution and for his friendship.

  Bill and I interviewed dozens of my former colleagues to check my recollections of events portrayed in this book and to hear the other side of the story from people who shared with me many of the important moments depicted here. I am deeply indebted to all of them, but for reasons they will understand, it is best not to identify them, even by first name.

  As a former CIA officer, I have a lifetime obligation to submit anything
I write to the Agency’s Publication Review Board (PRB) to protect legitimately classified material and intelligence sources and methods. The manuscript for this book was submitted as required. The PRB did not authorize me to include everything I would have liked. For example, a lengthy section on a sensitive but widely misunderstood and mischaracterized program was removed at their insistence. Additionally, I agreed to modify a few facts, figures, and details in order to protect Agency programs, officers, and those who worked with the CIA. In virtually every instance, if I had been permitted to be more precise, the case I make in the book about the value and necessity of Agency actions would only have been strengthened. Nonetheless, I understand and support the work of the PRB and thank its members for their very thorough, aggressive, and appropriate efforts to protect necessary secrets. I appreciate their professionalism and willingness to work with me to help ensure I could tell this story as fully as possible. I want to point out that with the exception of very well-known public figures, such as former CIA directors, U.S. senators, and the like, I have tried to avoid using the true names of CIA officers. In some cases I use pseudonyms, which are in quotes at the first use.

  My lawyer, Bob Bennett, came into my life as if by divine intervention at a time when the Congress, the Department of Justice, and the media were coming after me. Knowing that I had a world-class litigator representing me brought peace of mind during very trying times. Over the years Patti and I got to know and share time with Bob and his lovely wife, Ellen, and consider them to be our very special friends. I also want to thank Bob’s partner, Carl Rauh, and Bob’s special assistant, Judy Sachs.