John M. Deutch - CIA Career

CIA Career

In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed him Director of Central Intelligence (cabinet rank in the Clinton administration). However, Deutch was initially reluctant to accept the appointment. As head of the CIA, Deutch continued the policy of his predecessor R. James Woolsey to declassify records pertaining to U.S. covert operations during the Cold War. He put restraints on what he considered to be politically incorrect agent recruitment and sought to encourage more diversity at the Agency in order to include more women and minorities in its ranks.

On November 15, 1996, Deutch was at Locke High School in Los Angeles at a town hall meeting on the topic of drug dealing. He was visibly taken aback by the confrontational testimony from an LAPD narcotics officer, Michael Ruppert, that he had seen evidence of CIA complicity in drug dealing for a long time.

Deutch left the CIA on December 15, 1996 and later that year it was revealed that several of his laptop computers contained classified materials designated as unclassified. In January 1997, the CIA began a formal security investigation of the matter. Senior management at CIA declined to fully pursue the security breach. Over two years after his departure, the matter was referred to the Department of Justice, where Attorney General Janet Reno declined prosecution. She did, however, recommend an investigation to determine whether Deutch should retain his security clearance. President Clinton pardoned Deutch on his last day in office.