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KENT EXTRACT
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Mr. William M. Kent joined the Agency in December
1951. He had previously received a degree in diplomatic
and public relations from the Latin American Institute,
New York City and had served time in the U.S. Army from
1946 to 1948. He graduated from the Latin American
Institute with the highest honors and 4 awards.
Mr. Kent was initially assigned to the Office of
Special Operations as a clerk typist and, after six
months, in June 1952, was assigned de Ceded: D:D:D:D:D:_ana_____ as an
intelligence officer under non-official cover. In July
1956 he returned to Headquarters where he worked as an
area operations officer in the Western Hemisphere Divi-
sion. After a successful stint in the Cuba, section he
was assigned as an operations officer, to Caracas). After
an excellently productive tour in Caracas), Mr. Kent was
selected to join JMWAVE in Miami. There he really shone
as attested to in the following quote from his fitness
report: "He has been placed in most difficult positions,
particularly in the handling of incompatible people and
groups which he has managed without alienating either
side and on various occasions accomplishing the impossible
by satisfying everyone concerned." After his tour in Miami,
he headed several sections in Headquarters in the Western
Hemisphere Division. In 1967 he was transferred to New
Orleans and then to the Washington Base. In both places
he worked under non-official cover 124 From 1970 until his
retirement he served in several capacities ranging from
the planning and guiding of Covert Action programs to
occupying managerial positions. During these eight years
he received seven strong and three outstanding overall
ratings. Of special note are the various commendation
and laudatory reports concerning Mr. Kent's performance during
the "Chilean crisis". Because of his excellent performance
during the Chilean crisis he again was asked to help the
Latin American Division during several investigations. He
performed admirably as reflected in a commendation written
by the Deputy Chief of LA Division on 5 December 1975:
"When confronted with a need to produce a paper on Chile in
a short timeframe, I instinctively turned to him. It was not
only because he had expertise on Chile, but to service in
the Chile Branch, but because he is highly skilled in written
presentation. He organizes his material well and presents
it in a lucid%3B highly readable manner. On the first occasion,
he helped us prepare a paper that was eventually used by the
Director in his presentation before the Senate Select Com-
mittee on 14-15' July. On the second occasion his contribution
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was used by the DDO in his appearance before the Senate
Select Committee on 28 October. Both of these papers
were excellent and have withstood critical scrutiny.'
"
Mr. Kent has now left the Agency after 26 years of
distinguished service as an operations officer and as a
manager both in the field and at Headquarters. On the
occasion of his retirement, it is appropriate that Mr.
Kent's career achievements be suitably recognized. It
is recommended that he be awarded the Career Intelligence
Medal in recognition of his long and distinguished service.