Deputy Director of CIA for Operations

The deputy director of the CIA for operations is a senior United States government official in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency who serves as head of the Directorate of Operations. The position was established December 1, 1950 and from January 4, 1951, until March 1, 1973, it was known as Deputy Director of Plans (DDP). When this unit was known as the Directorate of Plans, it at first accounted for about 75% of the CIA budget and about 60% of the personnel within the CIA.^[1]

After staying named the deputy director of plans until 1973, the position was then known as Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) until October 13, 2005, when, under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, the position was renamed to Director of the National Clandestine Service (D/NCS). When David Marlowe was chosen to lead the Directorate of Operations by CIA Director William J. Burns in June 2021, media reported his position as being titled Deputy Director of Operations.^[2][3][4]

Director		Tenure	President(s) served under
	Allen Dulles	January 4, 1951 – August 23, 1951	Harry S. Truman
	Frank Wisner	August 23, 1951 – January 1, 1959	Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower
	Richard Bissell	January 1, 1959 – February 17, 1962	Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy
	Richard Helms	February 17, 1962 – April 28, 1965	John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
	Desmond Fitzgerald	June 28, 1965 – July 23, 1967	Lyndon B. Johnson
	Thomas Karamessines	July 31, 1967 – February 27, 1973	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon
	William Colby	March 2, 1973 – August 24, 1973	Richard Nixon
	William Nelson	August 24, 1973 – May 14, 1976	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
	William Wells	May 15, 1976 – December 31, 1977	Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
	John McMahon	January 11, 1978 – April 12, 1981	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
	Max Hugel	May 11, 1981 – July 14, 1981	Ronald Reagan
	John Stein	July 14, 1981 – July 1, 1984
	Clair George	July 1, 1984 – December 1, 1987
	Richard Stolz	January 4, 1988 – December 31, 1990	Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush
	Thomas Twetten	January 1, 1991 – December 1993	George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton
	Hugh Price	January 1994–1995	Bill Clinton
	David Cohen	1995–1997
	Jack Downing	1997 – July 1999
	James Pavitt^[5]	August 1999 – June 4, 2004	Bill Clinton George W. Bush
	Stephen Kappes	June 5, 2004 – November 15, 2004	George W. Bush
	Jose Rodriguez	November 16, 2004 – September 30, 2007
	Michael Sulick	September 30, 2007 – July 30, 2010	George W. Bush Barack Obama
	John Bennett	July 30, 2010 – February 28, 2013	Barack Obama
	Gina Haspel Acting	February 28, 2013 – May 7, 2013
	Frank Archibald^[5]	May 7, 2013 – January 29, 2015
	Greg Vogle^[6]^[7]^[8]	January 29, 2015 – August 2017	Barack Obama, Donald Trump
	Elizabeth Kimber^[9]^[10]^[11]	December 10, 2018 – June 2021	Donald Trump, Joe Biden
	David Marlowe^[2]	June 2021 – present	Joe Biden

Sources

1. "Frank Gardiner Wisner, Lieutenant, United States Navy". April 9, 2023.
2. Strobel, Warren (June 16, 2021). "CIA Names David Marlowe to Run Espionage Operations". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
3. Schnell, Mychael (June 17, 2021). "30-year CIA veteran to run espionage operations". The Hill. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
4. Hoffman, Daniel (July 1, 2021). "At the CIA, Dave Marlowe is an inspired choice for a critical job". Washington Times. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
5. Jeff Stein (August 7, 2014). "CIA Vaults a Woman into Top Spy Ranks". Newsweek. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
6. Mazzetti, Mark; Apuzzo, Matt (April 25, 2015). "Deep Support in Washington for C.I.A.'s Drone Missions". The New York Times (New York ed.). p. A1. from the original on April 26, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015. Mr. Brennan recently named Greg Vogel ... to take over the C.I.A.'s vaunted Directorate of Operations
7. Shapira, Ian (September 18, 2017). "The CIA acknowledges the legendary spy who saved Hamid Karzai's life — and honors him by name". Washington Post.
8. "McChrystal Group - Greg Vogle". McChrystal Group.
9. Volz, Warren P. Strobel and Dustin. "CIA Names First Woman to Lead Clandestine Operations". WSJ. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
10. "No, Elizabeth Kimber is not the first woman picked to head the CIA's clandestine operations". American Enterprise Institute - AEI. December 10, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2020.
11. "Beth Kimber becomes first woman to run CIA's spy network". NBC News. Retrieved January 17, 2020.

• CIA's senior management structure, letter dated July 2, 1991 from William H. Webster, Director of Central Intelligence to U.S. Senator John Glenn, Select Senate Committee on Intelligence.
• "CIA plans riskier, more aggressive espionage," USA Today, November 17, 2004.
• , press release dated July 21, 2010.