David Blee

David Blee (November 20, 1916 - August 6, 2000) served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from its founding in 1947 until his 1985 retirement. In the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II he had worked in Southeast Asia in an espionage assignment regarding Japanese Navy. Later he joined the CIA and rose to the rank of Chief of Station (COS). Starting in the 1950s, he ran the CIA office in Pretoria, South Africa, and then in Islamabad, Pakistan. As COS at the American Embassy in New Delhi, India, Blee was there in 1965 when Svetlana Stalin walked in, seeking asylum.^[1]

Later he returned to CIA Headquarters near Washington, D.C., where he lead the Near East Division. In 1971 DCI Richard Helms then appointed him head of the Soviet Division. From that position Blee initiated significant policy changes in CIA operations. Soviet citizens who volunteered information about the Soviet Union would no longer be characterized as "dangles" or plants sent by the KGB. This change eventually led to the departure of James Jesus Angleton, long dominant in the CIA, from his post as chief of counterintelligence.^[2]

Early life, family

David Henry Blee was born in San Francisco in 1916. He graduated from Stanford University in 1938, and from Harvard Law in 1942. In 1943 he joined the Army, first serving in the Army Corps of Engineers. He soon transferred to the OSS. With a small group of intelligence agents he landed from a submarine on an island off Thailand; their mission was to spot appearances of the Japanese fleet. After the war, he continued in intelligence work in the CIA.

Blee died at his home in Bethesda, Maryland. He was survived by his wife Mary Gauer Blee, by their four sons and a daughter, and by grandchildren.

Notes

1. Risen (2000).
2. Hoffman (2015), p. 24.

References

• William Colby, Honorable Men. My Life in the CIA (New York: Simon and Schuster 1978).
• Edward J. Epstein, Deception. The invisible war between the KGB and the CIA (New York: Simon and Schuster 1989).
• David Hoffman, The Billion Dollar Spy. A true story of Cold War espionage and betrayal (New York: Doubleday 2015).
• David C. Martin, The Wilderness of Mirrors (New York: Harper and Row 1980).
  • Harold Jackson, David Blee, CIA chief who rescued the Agency from paranoia, The Guardian, August 20, 2000.
  • James Risen, David H. Blee, 83, The CIA spy who revised defector policy, The New York Times, August 8, 2000.
  • David Henry Blee; CIA officer who improved spying on Soviet Union, The Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2000.