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Jan 9, 2024 · Former CIA agent Olson says the idea that Cuba allegedly "ran" Rocha for four decades is part of their modus operandi, especially with ideological spies as opposed to mercenary ones. "They...
May 1, 2019 · JAMES M. OLSON served for over thirty years in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, mostly overseas in clandestine operations. In addition to several foreign assignments, he was chief of counterintelligence at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
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- 2019
- James M. Olson
- The First Big Phone Call
- Spy Team
- The Second Big Phone Call
- The Next Mission
Sometimes just one phone call can change a person’s life. In Olson’s case, it happened twice. As a naval officer based out of Charleston, South Carolina, Olson was on active duty from 1963 to 1967 and later achieved the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve. He spent much of his military career on ships overseas. “I was constantly on the...
Olson met Meredith at the CIA, where she was already working, and they became a husband-and-wife spy team. “We enjoyed being able to go off on missions together and dedicating our lives to serving our country,” he said. Most of their more than three decades in the CIA were spent overseas; all three of their children were born in Paris. He became th...
By the mid ’90s, the Olsons were considering retirement from the clandestine service. Usually when spies retire, they go back to their normal lives without anyone ever knowing what they’d done. This was not the case for Jim Olson. The reason for that was President George H.W. Bush and Texas A&M. “Meredith and I never wanted to come out from underco...
These days, Olson can still be found at the Bush School meeting with students and helping out in whatever way he can. He has written two books on his experiences in the CIA: “Fair Play: The Moral Dilemmas of Spying” (2006) and “To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence” (2021). The agency, of course, reviewed the books prior to publication. “I...
He is a professor of the practice at the Bush School, where he teaches courses on intelligence and counterintelligence. He served for over thirty years in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, mostly overseas in clandestine operations.
James Olson, former CIA Chief of Counterintelligence, will discuss how our country’s security has been undermined by treachery from within. He will do so in the context of four Americans he knew and worked with who passed secrets to the Russians in return for money, ego, or sex.
James M. Olson served for over thirty years in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, mostly overseas in clandestine operations. In addition to several foreign assignments, he was chief of counterintelligence at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Feb 25, 2021 · Bush School of Government and Public Service Professor James Olson, a former undercover operative for the CIA. Texas A&M Foundation. A former international spy who now teaches at Texas A&M University recently explained to Chancellor John Sharp how he clandestinely collected secrets from top Kremlin officials during the Cold War.
