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.

Early Life and Career

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.

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.

Legacy

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.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.