Bobby Ray Inman
NSA Director 1977-81, Deputy Director of Central Intelligence 1981-82
Welcome! I’m Tom Griffin and this is my intelligence history newsletter. Feel free to share this article with the button below. If this email is truncated, please check the website.
Admiral Bobby Ray Inman in 1983 (CIA, public domain).
Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, U. S. Navy, (Ret.) was Director of the National Security Agency from 1977 until 1981 and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from February 1981 until April 1982.
Widely respected in Congress for his role leading the NSA at a time of heightened scrutiny of intelligence, Inman was seen as a counterweight to DCI Bill Casey during his time at CIA. His technical background made him sceptical of the counterintelligence theories advanced by conservative staffers at the National Security Council, with whom he repeatedly clashed. His inability to restrain Casey’s reckless approach to covert action in Central America contributed to his decision to leave government for the private sector.
