Theodore George "Ted" Sheckley Jr. (July 16, 1927 - December 9, 2002), a CIA officer, participated in many important CIA operations in the 1960s and 1970s. Winner of many awards. Because of blond hair and the ability to penetrate the most protected objects, he became known as the “Blond Ghost”. In the early 1960s, Sheckley served as the head of the CIA unit in Miami . He led a number of actions during the Caribbean crisis , as well as during the operation to combat the Cuban revolutionaries (Operation Mongoose ). It is also believed that he was the director of the Phoenix Program during the Vietnam War , as well as the head of the CIA unit in Laos from 1966 to 1968. Later, from 1968 to February 1972, he commanded the CIA in Saigon . In 1976, at an important leadership position at the CIA headquarters in the United States.
| Theodore George "Ted" Sheckley Jr. | |
|---|---|
| English Theodore George "Ted" Shackley, Jr. | |
 Thomas Polgar (right) takes over the CIA headquarters in Saigon in January 1972. On the left is Theodore Sheckley, in the center is General Creighton Abrams, commander of the US forces in Vietnam. | |
| Nickname | Ted |
| Date of Birth | August 16, 1927 |
| Place of Birth | West Palm Beach , Florida , USA |
| Date of death | December 9, 2002 (aged 75) |
| Place of death | Bethesda , Maryland , USA |
| Affiliation |  USA |
| Type of army |  The CIA |
Content
The early years
Theodore Sheckley was born July 16, 1927 in West Palm Beach , Florida . His childhood and youth passed there. On October 23, 1945, he joined the U.S. Army in Springfield , Massachusetts . After special training was sent to one of the US military bases in Germany . Sheckley was fluent in Polish (his mother came from a family of Polish emigrants). Therefore, he was recruited to the military counterintelligence agencies. Theodore was soon sent to study at the University of Maryland . In 1951, he returned to Germany with the rank of lieutenant and continued his service in counterintelligence of the army. He was entrusted with the recruitment of Polish agents. In the early 1950s, Silks were invited to work at the CIA. Since 1953, he worked under the direction of William King Harvey in West Berlin . In 1961, Sheckley married Hazel Tyndall Sheckley.
Miami and the Caribbean Crisis
In 1962, Sheckley was appointed head of the CIA headquarters in Miami, Florida. Under his leadership, an invasion of Cuba in the Bay of Pigs in 1961 was prepared. After the failure of this operation, Sheckley (along with Edward Lansdale) continued to engage in the fight against the Fidel Castro regime. In total, more than 200 officers worked in Mysam at the headquarters of the CIA (known as JMWAVE ). They oversaw about 2,000 Cuban agents. The loudest action was the famous " Operation Mongoose " ("Cuban Project"). The main goal was to “help the Cuban exiles” to overthrow the communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. During this period, up to 400 agents were directly at Sheckley’s disposal, as well as an impressive flotilla from various watercraft. Theodore remained at his post during the Caribbean crisis in October 1962.
Vietnam and Laos
In 1966, Sheckley was sent to Vietnam . He was appointed head of the CIA branch in Laos during the period. From 1966 to 1968, he commanded secret operations by the CIA against North Vietnamese troops in Laos. At the end of 1968, Sheckley was transferred to Saigon , the capital of the South. Here he was responsible for managing the Phoenix Program , a secret campaign to kill and capture the leaders of the rebel movement in Vietnam. Sheckley later claimed in his memoirs that he was an opponent of the Phoenix Program. In any case, these operations brought the CIA the unfortunate glory of the insidious killers, not skilled intelligence officers. Sheckley served in Vietnam until February 1972, and then returned to Langley , Virginia.
Division of the Western Hemisphere and Chile
Since May 1972, Sheckley was appointed head of the Department of the Western Hemisphere of the CIA. His first priority was the struggle for a change in the communist regime in Chile ( FUBELT project ), after Salvador Allende came to power. At this time, Sheckley was also involved in the case of former CIA officer Philip Agee , who was suspected of being recruited by Cubans. Agee promised to write a book exposing the CIA (published in 1975).
Deputy Director of Special Operations
In May 1976, Sheckley was appointed deputy director of operations. The direct director of the CIA was George W. Bush . After Jimmy Carter succeeded Gerald Ford as president, Bush left his post. The new CIA director, Stansfield Turner, dismissed Sheckley from office in December 1977. In 1979, when the Carter administration announced massive cuts at the CIA, Sheckley finally quit the organization. According to some reports, Turner put an end to Sheckley's career.
Federal Attorney Lawrence Barcelona suspected that Sheckley was implicated in arms smuggling, as well as fraud with bills issued to the US Department of Defense. Sheckley himself assured that he would become the director of the CIA if Gerald Ford were re-elected as president in 1976.
Iran-Contra case
On February 5, 1986, Sheckley was questioned by a commission that investigated the controversial Iran-Contras case. On February 2, 1987, the Washington Post published an article by Sheckley in which he denied his involvement in the arms deal.
Institute of Christ suit
In 1986, Sheckley was named one of thirty people accused of a civil lawsuit worth $ 24 million. The case was initiated at the request of the Christian Institute by attorney Daniel Sheehan. The lawsuit alleged that Sheckley was part of the conspiracy responsible for the explosion of the La Couvre motor ship in a number of other covert operations.
Similar allegations were made in a letter sent to the US Department of Justice in 1987 by Burmese officer Khun Sa. Among other things, Sheckley was accused of organizing the smuggling of heroin from the Golden Triangle in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1988, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida rejected the lawsuit and ruled that the Institute should pay $ 955,000 to pay for attorneys and $ 79,500 for legal fees. Subsequently, this decision was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals.
Death
Sheckley died of cancer on December 9, 2002, at his home in Bethesda , Maryland .
Bibliography
- Ted Shackley and Richard A. Finney (1992). Spymaster: my life in the CIA . Potomac Books ISBN 1-57488-915-X.
- Theodore Shackley: The Third Option: An American View of Counter-insurgency Operations McGraw-Hill, (1981) ISBN 0-07-056382-9
- David Corn: Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades (1994). ISBN 0-671-69525-8