Richard Helms, spymaster, dies
The shadows have darkened forever for Richard Helms who died at his home outside Washington on Tuesday, October 23, 2002. Helms was a career intelligence operative who headed the Central Intelligence Agency during administrations of Presidents Johnson and Nixon. He was fired by Nixon for refusing to use the CIA to head off the FBI Watergate investigation. During his career Helms hid in the shadows of the intelligence world and is only known to have made one public speech - to newspaper editors. I would rank Helms as one of the top three CIA directors along with Allen Dulles and Bill Colby. Helms was a role model for the current director George Tenet who had Helms' portrait temporarily moved from the directors' wall at the agency headquarters to hang in his personal space.


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