Richard Hollis Helms

Richard Hollis Helms ( spook)
Born	21 February 1949  Eglin Air Force Base,  Florida,  USA
Died	13 May, 2024 (Age 75)
Nationality	US
Alma mater	American University
Children	•  Alexander Hollis Helms •  Lindsay Rose Helms
Senior CIA spook who later cashed in as a contractor founding Abraxas Corporation, "the largest aggregate of analytical counterterrorism capabilities outside of the U.S. government" and capable of constructing false identities, front companies, and cover stories for agents traveling overseas.  CIA/National Resources Division/Chief Dates unknown  CIA/European Division/Chief In office 1997 - 1999

Not to be confused with Director of Central Intelligence Richard M. Helms (1913-2002)

Richard Hollis Helms was a senior CIA spook who later cashed in as a contractor founding Abraxas Corporation, "the largest aggregate of analytical counterterrorism capabilities outside of the U.S. government" and capable of constructing false identities, front companies, and cover stories for agents traveling overseas.

Education

Helms took a bachelor's degree in international relations and economic development policy in 1972 and a master's degree in national security policy in 1973 from American University.

Career

While he was at American University he worked as a security guard for the Central Intelligence Agency, and that was the beginning of his nearly 30-year career for the CIA where he was an Arabist in the Middle East , including Beirut, and Chief of Station or Deputy Chief of Station in various locations across the world including Latin America, Asia, Europe, including Chief for Europe, and the United States, where he was Chief of the National Resources Division

Later activities

Richard "Hollis" Helms was the founder and CEO of the internet-based information operations firm Ntrepid.

After 9/11, he founded Abraxas Corporation, constructing false identities, front companies, and cover stories for agents traveling overseas. Helms boasted it was "the largest aggregate of analytical counterterrorism capabilities outside of the U.S. government"

The New Yorker described Abraxas as:

Hollis is brilliant; he realized there was a huge market out there to exploit. He printed money for a while - hired tons of CIA staffers and doubled their salary. He was the first agency guy to figure it all out," said one former chief of station, the term for the top CIA officer at a U.S. embassy. "You would see people leave the CIA on a Friday and come back on Monday in the same job but working for Abraxas." This business model worked, apparently, because the C.I.A. needed more people with certain skills, after September 11th, than it had on hand, and so looked to contractors. But what had been a stopgap now seems to be part of the structure. Thirty per cent of the people working for us in intelligence are now contractors, according to the Post.

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