William Nelson
 William Nelson    ( spook) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 1991? (Age 68) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | US | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | • Columbia University • Harvard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Senior CIA spook who was Deputy Director of Operations from 1973 until 1976.
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William E. Nelson was a senior CIA spook close to William Colby who was Deputy Director of Operations from 1973 until 1976.
Background
Born in 1922, died in 1991?[1]
In 1973 the NYT wrote that "He is said to be of medium height, with light brown hair, and wears horn‐rimmed glasses. There is a William E. Nelson listed in the State Department's Biographic Register. He is 52, Columbia and Harvard[2].
Career
He was stationed in Tokyo under diplomatic cover in 1950, and turned up in 'Dept of Navy' on Taiwan from 1959 to 1965.[2]
Nelson was Chief of Station in Taiwan from 1962[3], at a time when the US tried to restrain the government there from military action against mainland China.[4]
Nelson hit it off badly with intelligence chief Chiang Ching-kuo, who's dislike of Nelson was strengthened when within three months of his arrival in Taiwan, Nelson had privately contacted several high-ranking Nationalist military intelligence officers, including Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence Yi Fuen. Taiwan's spymaster was horrified that the CIA brazen enough to seek information from his senior subordinates.[4]
He became leader of the East Asia Division (Far East Division) in 1968.
When Bill Colby was named chief of the operations directorate, his choice for the new Deputy Director of Operations was Nelson, who until recently had been director of the Far East division, the job Colby used to have.[2]
He became Deputy Director of Operations, a key deep state post, in 1973.
As Deputy Director of Operations, secret military support of anticommunist factions in Angola and payments to Italian politicians are two operations known to have occurred.<ref name=nyt>
In 1976, Nelson announced his plans to retire the same day the Church Committee report was made public.<ref name=nyt>https://www.nytimes.com/1976/04/28/archives/cia-losing-chief-for-covert-actions.html<ref>
References
- ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47516969/william-e-nelson
- ↑ a b c https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/01/archives/colby-of-ciacia-of-colby-dark-side-up.html
- ↑ https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp75-00001r000100330028-1
- ↑ a b https://www.nids.mod.go.jp/publication/senshi/pdf/202403/04.pdf
