Jose A. Rodriguez
Jose Rodriguez serves as Senior Vice President of NISC Mission Services at National Interests Security Company L.LC. Mr. Rodriguez served as a Director of the CIA National Clandestine Service and led a range of increasingly critical operations over his 30 year CIA career.
Service with CIA
Born in Puerto Rico in 1948, Rodriguez attended the University of Florida, earning both a bachelor's and law degree. He joined the CIA in 1976 and served for 31 years. According to Gen (Retired) Michael Hayden, "Jose built a reputation for leadership in the field and here at headquarters, and he guided some of the agency's greatest counterterror victories." He has done much to protect our country by strengthening its Clandestine Service," Hayden added. Other colleagues cite him as "one of the best" field operatives in his time at the CIA.
Much of his career was as an officer under the Directorate of Operations in the Latin America division, assigned to work in countries ranging from Peru to Belize. Over time he was promoted to Chief of Station in Panama, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic and ultimately Director of the Latin American Division. He served in the U.S. Embassy in Argentina from 1994 to 1996. He transferred to Mexico City in 1999 where he again served as a Station Chief, the most senior CIA post in a large and obviously important country in the area. Rodriguez was then appointed Chief of the Latin America Division for the Agency's Directorate of Operations. This progression over 20 years to the top role in the Latin American Division set him apart as a key leader in the operations arena, during a period where the Cold War, counter-narcotics, insurgencies and U.S. invasion of Panama where key drivers of intelligence activity in the region.
Immediately after 9/11, Rodriguez was appointed Chief of Staff of the Counter Terrorism Center (CTC). In May 2002, Rodriguez was promoted to the post of Director CTC. The CTC is one of the premier organizations within the CIA and brings together case officers, operators, analysts, technologists to work the terrorism problem. In the aftermath of 9/11, this was the focal point within the Agency to orchestrate the global campaign against Al Qaeda. In this capacity, Rodriguez was responsible for driving the CIA operations and the targeting analysis necessary to uncover terrorists in the Al Qaeda network. In the time period that Rodriguez stepped in, the CTC grew sharply. The number of analysts quadrupled and the number of operations officers doubled. “The actions we took in the aftermath of 9/11 were harsh but necessary and effective. These steps were fully sanctioned and carefully followed. The detention and interrogation of top terrorists like Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Sheikh Muhammed and Abu Faraj al-Libbi yielded breakthroughs which have kept this country safe.” Rodriguez said in a press release.
CIA/Deputy Director for Operations and head of NCS
On November 16, 2004, Rodriguez succeeded Stephen Kappes to become the Deputy Director for Operations. Rodriguez continued in his capacity as the head of CIA clandestine operations, now as Director of the National Clandestine Service. In this expanded role, Rodriguez is the chief of all human intelligence gathering (HUMINT) conducted by the U.S. government, including outside agencies. After 31 years, Rodriguez retired on September 30, 2007; he was replaced by Michael Sulick.
