Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Seal of the Central Intelligence Agency
Incumbent David Cohen since January 20, 2021
Central Intelligence Agency
Reports to	Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA)
Seat	George Bush Center for Intelligence, Langley, Fairfax County, Virginia, U.S.
Appointer	President of the United States, with advice from D/CIA
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	50 U.S.C. § 3037
Precursor	Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Inaugural holder	VADM Albert M. Calland, USN
Formation	July 15, 2005
Deputy	Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (ED/CIA)
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level III[1]
Website	www.cia.gov

The Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DD/CIA) is a statutory office (50 U.S.C. § 3037) and the second-highest official of the Central Intelligence Agency. The DD/CIA assists the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) and is authorized to exercise the powers of the D/CIA when the Director's position is vacant or in the Director's absence or disability.

Under current law, the Deputy Director is appointed by the President of the United States and is not required to be confirmed by the United States Senate. This position has been held by David Cohen since January 20, 2021.^[2]

History[]

The functions of this position were served by the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI) until that position was abolished under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The position of DD/CIA was created administratively by then-D/CIA Porter Goss and received statutory approval from the U.S. Congress in 2010.

The first DD/CIA was Kingman Douglass, appointed by the Director of Central Intelligence in 1946. In April 1953, Congress amended the National Security Act of 1947 to allow the President of the United States to appoint the DDCI (with U.S. Senate confirmation). The amendment stipulated that the Director and Deputy Director positions could not be simultaneously filled by military officers.

List of Deputy Directors of Central Intelligence (1946–2004)[]

Deputy Director		Tenure	President(s) served under
Position preceded the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
	Kingman Douglass	March 2, 1946 – July 11, 1946	Harry S. Truman
Vacant		July 11, 1946 – January 20, 1947
	Edwin Kennedy Wright	January 20, 1947 – March 9, 1949
Vacant		March 10, 1949 – October 7, 1950
	William Harding Jackson	October 7, 1950 – August 3, 1951
	Allen Dulles	August 23, 1951 – February 26, 1953	Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower
	Gen Charles P. Cabell, USAF	April 23, 1953 – January 31, 1962	Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy
	LTG Marshall Carter, USA	April 3, 1962 – April 28, 1965	John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
	Richard Helms	April 28, 1965 – June 30, 1966	Lyndon B. Johnson
	VADM Rufus Lackland Taylor, USN	October 13, 1966 – February 1, 1969	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon
	Gen Robert E. Cushman Jr., USMC	May 7, 1969 – December 31, 1971	Richard M. Nixon
	GEN Vernon A. Walters, USA	May 2, 1972 – July 2, 1976	Richard M. Nixon Gerald R. Ford
	E. Henry Knoche	July 7, 1976 – August 1, 1977	Gerald R. Ford Jimmy Carter
	John Francis Blake	August 1977 – February 1978	Jimmy Carter
	Frank Carlucci	February 10, 1978 – February 5, 1981	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
	ADM Bobby Ray Inman, USN	February 12, 1981 – June 10, 1982	Ronald Reagan
	John N. McMahon	June 10, 1982 – March 29, 1986
	Robert Gates	April 18, 1986 – March 20, 1989	Ronald Reagan George H.W. Bush
	Richard James Kerr	March 20, 1989 – March 2, 1992	George H.W. Bush
	ADM Bill Studeman, USN	April 9, 1992 – July 3, 1995	George H.W. Bush Bill Clinton
	George Tenet	July 3, 1995 – July 11, 1997	Bill Clinton
	Gen John A. Gordon, USAF	October 31, 1997 – June 29, 2000
	John E. McLaughlin	October 19, 2000 – December 3, 2004	Bill Clinton George W. Bush

Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2005–present)[]

Hereafter the "Deputy Director of Central Intelligence" position was replaced by Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.

Deputy Director of the CIA		Tenure	President(s) served under
Position succeeded the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Vacant		December 3, 2004 – July 15, 2005	George W. Bush
	VADM Albert Calland, USN	July 15, 2005 – July 23, 2006
	Stephen Kappes	July 24, 2006 – May 5, 2010	George W. Bush Barack Obama
	Michael Morell	May 7, 2010 – August 9, 2013	Barack Obama
	Avril Haines	August 9, 2013 – January 10, 2015
	David S. Cohen	February 9, 2015 – January 20, 2017
	Gina Haspel	February 2, 2017 – May 21, 2018	Donald Trump
Vacant		May 21, 2018 – August 1, 2018
	Vaughn Bishop	August 1, 2018 – January 20, 2021
	David S. Cohen	January 20, 2021 - present	Joe Biden

In popular culture[]

In the novel The Hunt for Red October, the character Vice Admiral James Greer is the fictional Deputy Director of the CIA; former U.S. Marine Jack Ryan takes over this role after Admiral Greer's death in Clear and Present Danger. He subsequently retires from the position following a highly publicized media scandal and the detonation of a nuclear weapon at the Super Bowl in The Sum of All Fears.

In the animated sitcom American Dad!, the character Avery Bullock is the fictional Deputy Director of the CIA.

References[]