James Jesus Angleton December 9, โ May 11, [ 1 ] was an American intelligence operative who served as chief of the counterintelligence department of the Central Intelligence Agency from to According to Director of Central Intelligence Richard Helms , Angleton was "recognized as the dominant counterintelligence figure in the non-communist world".
After the war, he returned to Washington, D. He was initially responsible for the collection of foreign intelligence and liaison with counterpart organizations in allied countries. Through Golitsyn, Angleton became convinced the CIA harbored a high-ranking Soviet mole and engaged in an intensive search.
Whether this was a highly destructive witch hunt or appropriate caution remains a subject of intense historical debate. Investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein agrees with the high regard in which Angleton was held by his colleagues in the intelligence business, and adds that Angleton earned the "trust of six CIA directorsโincluding Gen. Walter Bedell Smith , Allen W.
Dulles and Richard Helms. They kept Angleton in key positions and valued his work. Army cavalry officer serving under General John Pershing. Carmen Moreno was born in Mexico but was already a naturalized American citizen before she married James H. Angleton in December In Italy, he became head of the American Chamber of Commerce. Angleton's boyhood was spent in Milan , Italy. Furioso published many of the best-known poets of the interwar period , including William Carlos Williams , E.
Cummings and Ezra Pound. Eliot , among others, and was particularly influenced by William Empson , author of Seven Types of Ambiguity. He briefly studied law at Harvard , but did not graduate. In , Angleton joined the U. By February , he was chief of the Italy desk for X-2 in London. While in London, Angleton met the famous double agent Kim Philby. In November , Angleton was transferred to Italy as commander of Secret Counterintelligence Unit Z, which handled Ultra intelligence based on the British intercepts of German radio communications.
