William Eldridge Odom

William Eldridge Odom ( born June 23, 1932 in Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee, † 30 May, 2008 Lincoln, Vermont) was a general of the U.S. Army. From 1985 to 1988 he was director of the National Security Agency and a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.

Life

Odom studied at West Point and Columbia University. In West Point, he also later taught Russian history. The fluent Russian speaking Odom worked from 1977 to 1981 the U.S. National Security Council, then as deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Army for intelligence activities from 1985 to 1988 as Director of Intelligence NSA ( National Security Agency ). Since 1962, Odom was married to Anne Curtis Weld.

NSA Director

Lieutenant General Odom owed ​​his rapid rise to the support of Zbigniew Brzezinski, whom he met at Columbia University. As director he enjoyed in the NSA few sympathies and was considered ineffektivster director in the history of authority. Odom was considered a strict and humorless and went so far that he described journalists as "spies" and from reporters as " not convicted felons ."

Odom was both the Congress from other members of the Reagan administration toward critical, accusing them to leaked intelligence secrets. Lieutenant General Especially annoyed that President Reagan led intercepted radio messages after the attack on the West Berlin La Belle discotheque as evidence of Libya's debt three by the NSA.

Iran -Contra Affair

After December 1985, a coterie Washington officials, including William J. Casey, was planning to send missiles to Iran to secure the release of captive in Lebanon hostages in exchange for Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North turned from the National Security Council for help to the NSA. He wished a number of laptops, a special design with the name " KY -40 ". At the suggestion of a colleague at NSA North was referred to John C. Wobensmith, a senior official at the Information System Security Directorate of the NSA.

Odom Wobensmith approved the transfer of the KY- 40s but which, as he passed on North, but forgot to let handed a receipt. Two years later, the scandal surrounding the Iran - Contra scandal reached the public, Wobensmith gerat under pressure.

Odom believed that Wobensmith was responsible for ensuring that the NSA had come into the limelight. He was angry and worked hard against Wobensmith what other NSA members revolted. Thus, for example, expressed Edwin R. Lindauer, Jr., deputy director of information security and thus one of the highest ranking officials of the authority, its regret that, dutiful employees must defend themselves against their own director to defend. Wobensmith spent several weeks every 30 to 40 hours volunteer working in the NSA, but still fell into isolation.

As Odom then got trouble with Reagan's Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, he was released. While Odom is praised for his tremendous influence in the NSA, regretted his successor, Vice Admiral William O. Studeman, the decline in morale in the agency. Odom also still trying Studeman impose his favorite projects.

Career after the NSA

Odom was a senior scientist at the Hudson Institute, where he primarily dealt with military issues, intelligence and international relations. Furthermore, he was an associate professor at Yale University, where he gave seminar courses in national security policy and Russian politics. In 2005, he noted publicly that the U.S. interests would be best served with a withdrawal from Iraq.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted on the basis of the Order of Precedence of Military Awards:

• Army Distinguished Service Medal
• Defense Superior Service Medal
• Legion of Merit
• Meritorious Service Medal
• Joint Service Commendation Medal
• Army Commendation Medal
• National Defense Service Medal
• Vietnam Service Medal (2 × )