WASHINGTON (AP) — R. James Woolsey, a national security veteran who spent two eventful years leading the CIA after being appointed by President Bill Clinton, has passed away at the age of 84.
Woolsey took over as CIA director in early 1993 and died Tuesday at his Washington home, according to multiple news outlets. His wife, Conchita Sarnoff Woolsey, confirmed to those outlets that the cause of death was a stroke.
Speaking with The Washington Post, she explained that his health had been deteriorating in recent years as a result of what is known as ‘Havana syndrome’ — a puzzling condition reported by a number of U.S. diplomats and government workers. The condition, which involves symptoms such as headaches, balance issues, and problems with concentration and sleep, was first documented in Cuba in 2016, which is where the name originated.
Woolsey departed the CIA in early 1995, having faced criticism over what some viewed as inadequate consequences for supervisors who oversaw confessed CIA traitor Aldrich Ames. Ames, a longtime CIA officer, admitted to receiving $2.5 million from Moscow in exchange for U.S. intelligence secrets from 1985 until his capture in 1994, betraying Western intelligence assets to both the Soviet Union and Russia.
In response to the Ames case, Woolsey acknowledged the agency could not fully guard itself against insider threats of that nature. He warned against an overreaction to the security gaps Ames had exposed, cautioning that moving too aggressively could create what he described as “a mood or attitude of paranoia and false accusations” that would only worsen morale within the agency.
The close of the Cold War also brought added pressure on Woolsey from members of Congress pushing for significant reductions to the CIA’s budget.
Prior to his time at the helm of the CIA, Woolsey served as undersecretary of the Navy during the Carter administration and worked as an arms control adviser to presidents from both political parties. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed him as a special negotiator for stalled talks between the NATO alliance and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact regarding troop and weapons reductions in Europe. The following year, Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.
Woolsey was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 21, 1941. He graduated from Stanford University, earned a Rhodes Scholarship, and later obtained his law degree from Yale University. His government career began in 1970 when he joined the National Security Council as a staff member, after which he moved to Capitol Hill to serve as general counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee. During breaks between government roles, he worked as a lawyer at a Washington law firm.
