William J. Casey
William Joseph Casey (
March 13,
1913 –
May 6,
1987) was the
Director of Central Intelligence from
1981 to
1987. In this capacity he oversaw the entire US
Intelligence Community and personally directed the
Central Intelligence Agency.
A native of
Queens, New York, Casey graduated from
Fordham University (1934) and
St. John's University School of Law (1937). Casey directed the successful presidential campaign of
Ronald Reagan in
1980. After Reagan was elected president, he named Casey to the post of Director of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). During his tenure at the CIA, Casey played a large part in the shaping of Reagan's foreign-policy, particularly its approach to
Soviet expansionism. Casey oversaw the re-expansion of the Intelligence Community, in particular the CIA, to funding and human resource levels greater than those before resource cuts during the Carter Administration. During his tenure restrictions were lifted on the use of the CIA to directly, covertly influence the internal and foreign affairs of countries relevant to American policy.
This period of the Cold War saw an increase of the Agency's anti-Soviet activities around the world. Casey was the principal architect of the arms-for-hostages deal that became known as the
Iran-Contra affair. He also oversaw covert assistance to the
mujahadeen resistance in
Afghanistan by working closely with
Akhtar Abdur Rahman The Director General of
ISI in
Pakistan, the
Solidarity movement in
Poland, and a number of coups and attempted coups in
South- and
Central America.
Prior to heading the CIA, in the 1960s, Casey served as chairman of the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In
World War II, he was a member of the
Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
William Casey died of
brain cancer in 1987 at the age of 74. He is buried in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in
Westbury, New York.
He was survived by his wife, the former Sophia McDaid, and his daughter, Bernadette Smith.
Gary Sick alleged that Casey orchestrated a deal in
1980 with Iran to refrain from releasing the
hostages until after the November presidential elections, in order to deny
President Carter credit for their possible release. This came to be known as the "
October Surprise." Congress investigated in 1992, but Casey's role was never thoroughly ascertained since he did not testify, as he had died in 1987. Therefore the "October Surprise" has never been proven. The congressional inquires as well as the majority of investigative reports found the charges to be without merit.
One of the CIA-funded attacks that killed a great number of innocent civilians took place on
March 8,
1985, when the U.S. tried to liquidate Grand Ayatollah
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, the head of
Hezbollah in
Lebanon. Casey contracted out the job to
Turki bin Faisal al Saud of Saudi intelligence,
Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah, which sent a car packed with explosives into a Beirut slum near Fadlallah's headquarters. A city block was devastated and more than 90 people were buried under the rubble. [
1]
*
List of notable brain tumor patients* Joseph E. Persico.
Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey-From the Oss to the CIA (1991)
* Casey was featured prominently in
Bob Woodward's book
Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA (ISBN 0671601172).
* Casey's role in the Afghanistan War in Steve Coll's book
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (ISBN 1594200076).
*
William Casey's Gravesite*
Article on William Casey at the NNDB
