# Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

The deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (DD/CIA) is a statutory office (50 U.S.C. § 3037) and the second-highest official of the Central Intelligence Agency. The DD/CIA assists the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) and is authorized to exercise the powers of the D/CIA when the director's position is vacant or in the director's absence or disability.
Under current law, the deputy director is appointed by the president of the United States and is not required to be confirmed by the United States Senate.

## History

The functions of this position were served by the deputy director of central intelligence (DDCI) until that position was abolished under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The position of DD/CIA was created administratively by then-D/CIA Porter Goss and received statutory approval from the U.S. Congress in 2010.
The first DDCI was Kingman Douglass, appointed by the director of central intelligence in 1946, managing the Central Intelligence Group (CIG). With the passage of the National Security Act of 1947, the CIG was merged into the CIA. Thus, the position of DDCI predates the creation of the CIA.
In April 1953, Congress amended the National Security Act of 1947 to allow the president of the United States to appoint the DDCI (with U.S. Senate confirmation). The amendment stipulated that the director and deputy director positions could not be simultaneously filled by military officers.

## List of deputy directors of Central Intelligence (1946–2004)

| No. | Deputy Director of Central Intelligence | Took office | Left office | Time in office | President serving under |
| 1 | Kingman Douglass (1896–1971) | March 2, 1946 | July 11, 1946 | 131 days | Harry S. Truman |
| — | Vacant | July 11, 1946 | January 20, 1947 | 193 days | Harry S. Truman |
| 2 | Brigadier General Edwin Kennedy Wright (United States Army) (1898–1983) | January 20, 1947 | March 9, 1949 | 2 years, 48 days | Harry S. Truman |
| — | Vacant | March 10, 1949 | October 7, 1950 | 1 year, 211 days | Harry S. Truman |
| 3 | William Harding Jackson (1901–1971) | October 7, 1950 | August 3, 1951 | 300 days | Harry S. Truman |
| 4 | Allen Dulles (1893–1969) | August 23, 1951 | February 26, 1953 | 1 year, 187 days | Harry S. Truman Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 5 | General Charles P. Cabell (United States Air Force) (1903–1971) | April 23, 1953 | January 31, 1962 | 8 years, 283 days | Dwight D. Eisenhower John F. Kennedy |
| 6 | Lieutenant General Marshall Carter (United States Army) (1909–1993) | April 3, 1962 | April 28, 1965 | 3 years, 25 days | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 7 | Richard Helms (1913–2002) | April 28, 1965 | June 30, 1966 | 1 year, 63 days | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 8 | Vice Admiral Rufus Lackland Taylor (United States Navy) (1910–1978) | October 13, 1966 | February 1, 1969 | 2 years, 111 days | Lyndon B. Johnson Richard M. Nixon |
| 9 | General Robert E. Cushman Jr. (United States Marine Corps) (1914–1985) | May 7, 1969 | December 31, 1971 | 2 years, 238 days | Richard M. Nixon |
| 10 | General Vernon A. Walters (United States Army) (1917–2002) | May 2, 1972 | July 2, 1976 | 4 years, 61 days | Richard M. Nixon Gerald R. Ford |
| 11 | E. Henry Knoche (1925–2010) | July 7, 1976 | August 1, 1977 | 1 year, 25 days | Gerald R. Ford Jimmy Carter |
| — | John F. Blake (1922–1995) | August 1, 1977 | February 10, 1978 | 193 days | Jimmy Carter |
| 12 | Frank Carlucci (1930–2018) | February 10, 1978 | February 5, 1981 | 2 years, 361 days | Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan |
| 13 | Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (United States Navy) (born 1931) | February 12, 1981 | June 10, 1982 | 1 year, 118 days | Ronald Reagan |
| 14 | John N. McMahon (born 1929) | June 10, 1982 | March 29, 1986 | 3 years, 292 days | Ronald Reagan |
| 15 | Robert Gates (born 1943) | April 18, 1986 | March 20, 1989 | 2 years, 336 days | Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush |
| 16 | Richard James Kerr (born 1935) | March 20, 1989 | March 2, 1992 | 2 years, 348 days | George H.W. Bush |
| 17 | Admiral Bill Studeman (United States Navy) (born 1940) | April 9, 1992 | July 3, 1995 | 3 years, 85 days | George H.W. Bush Bill Clinton |
| 18 | George Tenet (born 1953) | July 3, 1995 | July 11, 1997 | 2 years, 8 days | Bill Clinton |
| 19 | General John A. Gordon (United States Air Force) (1946–2020) | October 31, 1997 | June 29, 2000 | 2 years, 242 days | Bill Clinton |
| 20 | John E. McLaughlin (born 1942) | October 19, 2000 | December 3, 2004 | 4 years, 45 days | Bill Clinton George W. Bush |

## Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2004–present)

Hereafter the "Deputy Director of Central Intelligence" position was replaced by Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.
| No. | Deputy Director of the CIA | Deputy Director of the CIA | Tenure | President(s) served under |
| Position succeeded the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence |||||
| Vacant | Vacant | Vacant | December 3, 2004 – July 15, 2005 | George W. Bush |
| 1 | | VADM Albert Calland, USN | July 15, 2005 – July 23, 2006 | George W. Bush |
| 2 | | Stephen Kappes | July 24, 2006 – May 5, 2010 | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
| 3 | | Michael Morell | May 7, 2010 – August 9, 2013 | Barack Obama |
| 4 | | Avril Haines | August 9, 2013 – January 10, 2015 | Barack Obama |
| 5 | | David S. Cohen | February 9, 2015 – January 20, 2017 | Barack Obama |
| 6 | | Gina Haspel | February 2, 2017 – May 21, 2018 | Donald Trump |
| Vacant | Vacant | Vacant | May 21, 2018 – August 1, 2018 | Donald Trump |
| 7 | | Vaughn Bishop | August 1, 2018 – January 20, 2021 | Donald Trump |
| 8 | | David S. Cohen | January 20, 2021 – January 20, 2025 | Joe Biden |
| 9 | | Michael Ellis | February 10, 2025 – present | Donald Trump |

## In popular culture

In the novel The Hunt for Red October, the character Vice Admiral James Greer is the fictional Deputy Director of the CIA; former U.S. Marine Jack Ryan takes over this role after Admiral Greer's death in Clear and Present Danger. He subsequently retires from the position following a highly publicized media scandal and the detonation of a nuclear weapon at the Super Bowl in The Sum of All Fears.
In the animated sitcom American Dad!, the character Avery Bullock is the fictional Deputy Director of the CIA.
In the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the character Daniel Livingstone is the fictional Deputy Director of the CIA.