R. James Woolsey, a national security expert who led the CIA for two turbulent years after his appointment by President Bill Clinton, has died. He was 84.
Woolsey, who became CIA director in early 1993, died Tuesday at his home in Washington, according to several newspapers. His wife, Conchita Sarnoff Woolsey, told the newspapers that he died from a stroke.
She told The Washington Post that his health had declined in recent years due to “Havana syndrome,” a mysterious condition that’s been reported by some U.S. diplomats and other government personnel. Symptoms that include headaches, balance problems and difficulties with thinking and sleep were first reported in Cuba in 2016 — leading to the label.
Woolsey left the CIA in early 1995. Among criticisms he’d faced were from those who felt there had been insufficient sanctions against supervisors of confessed CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, who betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia. Ames, a career CIA officer, admitted being paid $2.5 million by Moscow for U.S. secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994.
Woolsey said the agency couldn’t fully protect itself against spies like Ames, and he cautioned against overreacting to the vulnerabilities exposed by Ames. He said there was a danger in going too far too fast, adding that overly strict security measures could lead to “a mood or attitude of paranoia and false accusations” that would further damage morale.
With the end of the Cold War, Woolsey also faced pressure from lawmakers who sought to make deep cuts to the agency’s budget.
Before leading the CIA, he served as undersecretary of the Navy in the Carter administration and as an adviser on arms control issues to both Republican and Democratic presidents.
When he became director of the CIA, he was known for getting things done. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989 as a special negotiator for the languishing talks between the NATO alliance and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact on reducing weapons and troops in Europe. A year later, Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty.
Woolsey was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sept. 21, 1941. The graduate of Stanford University was a Rhodes Scholar who got his law degree from Yale University. He began government work in 1970 as a staff member on the National Security Council, then moved to Capitol Hill to become general counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Between stints in government work, he practiced law at a Washington firm.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.