Bobby Ray Inman Bobby Ray Inman ( born April 4 , 1931 ) is a retired United States admiral who held several influential positions in the U . S . Intelligence Community . Career . He served as Director of Naval Intelligence from September 1974 to July 1976 , then moved to the Defense Intelligence Agency where he served as Vice Director until 1977 . He next became the Director of the National Security Agency . Inman held this post until 1981 . His last major position was as the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency , a post he held from February 12 , 1981 to June 10 , 1982 . Inman has been influential in various advisory roles . Notably , he chaired a commission on improving security at U . S . foreign installations after the Marine barracks bombing and the April 1983 US Embassy bombing in Beirut , Lebanon . The commission ' s report has been influential in setting security design standards for U . S . Embassies . After retirement from the Navy , he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation ( MCC ) in Austin , Texas for four years and Chairman , President and Chief Executive Officer of Westmark Systems , Inc . , a privately owned electronics industry holding company for three years . Admiral Inman also served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 1987 through 1990 . Admiral Inman ’ s primary activity since 1990 has been investing in start - up technology companies , where he is a Managing Director of Gefinor Ventures and Limestone Ventures . He is a member of the Board of Directors of Massey Energy Company and of several privately held companies . He serves as a Trustee of the American Assembly and the California Institute of Technology . He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration . President Clinton nominated him as Secretary of Defense , but he withdrew his nomination ( see below ) . Inman also was on the board of SAIC . Since 2001 , Inman has held the LBJ Centennial Chair in National Policy at The University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B . Johnson School of Public Affairs , and in 2005 and again in 2009 was the school ' s interim dean . Inman graduated from Texas with a bachelor ' s in history in 1950 . Inman has also served on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations , Dell Computer , SBC Corporation ( now AT & T ) and Massey Energy . In 2011 he became head of the board of directors of Xe Services , formerly Erik Prince ' s Blackwater and now known as Academi . As of 2013 , he sits on the Board of Directors of Academi . Nomination for Secretary of Defense . Inman was announced as President Bill Clinton ' s choice to succeed Les Aspin as Secretary of Defense on December 16 , 1993 , initially receiving broad bipartisan support . He accepted the post at first , but withdrew his nomination during a press conference on January 18 , 1994 . During the press conference , Inman made angry remarks about comments by " New York Times " columnist William Safire . Safire wrote paragraphs on Inman ' s " anti - Israel bias shown " , and ended in a four point list of other negative qualifications . Inman suggested that Safire had recruited Senator Bob Dole of Kansas to engage in a " vitriolic attack " on Inman , and also claimed that Dole and Senator Trent Lott were planning to " turn up the heat " on his nomination . Dole ' s reaction was to state that " I have no idea what ' s gotten into Bobby Inman . . . Admiral Inman ' s letter doesn ' t make any sense to me . " Lott appeared even more surprised , saying that " I am floored by [ Inman ' s ] bizarre press conference , " while an unnamed White House aide added : " Most of us were glued to the tube , our mouths open in shock . " Statements . In 2006 , Inman criticized the Bush administration ' s use of warrantless domestic wiretaps , making him one of the highest - ranking former intelligence officials to criticize the program in public .