|
IN THE PUBLIC EYE: Mr Rodriguez will make his first public appearance next week at a border security conference in Texas. -- PHOTO: AP
|
ONE of the CIA's top spies has come out of the shadows.
With little fanfare, Mr Jose Rodriguez, who heads the National Clandestine Service, had his cover lifted about a month ago because he wanted to participate in minority recruitment events, says the CIA.
Mr Rodriguez, who is retiring later this year after more than three decades with the agency, is the most important man in the US spy game.
Unlike his recent predecessors, Mr Rodriguez elected to stay undercover as he ordered some of the CIA's most sensitive cloak-and-dagger operations. These efforts got little publicity because Mr Rodriguez believed the head of the clandestine service shouldn't have a high profile.
In national security circles, however, his identity was not a well-kept secret.
A native of Puerto Rico, he took over as head of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre after Sept 11, 2001. He became head of its clandestine service 2004.
The following year, he rose to be chief of 'human intelligence' operations at the new National Clandestine Service.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
|
