Latest news with #WilliamWebster
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former FBI, CIA Director William Webster dies at 101
William Webster, a longtime U.S. public servant who served as the head of both the FBI and the CIA in a career spanning the late 1970s to the early 1990s, has died. He was 101. The FBI confirmed his death in a statement Friday. Webster, who was the only person to have led both agencies, "was a dedicated public servant who spent over 60 years in service to our country, including in the U.S. Navy, as a federal judge, director of the CIA, and his term as our Director from 1978-1987," the FBI statement said. As FBI director, Webster served under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. He then served as CIA director from 1987 to 1991 under Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. "As the only individual to have led both the FBI and the CIA, Judge Webster's unwavering integrity and dedication to public service set a standard for leadership in federal law enforcement," the FBI Agents Association said in a statement. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Yahoo
09-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former FBI, CIA Director William Webster dies at 101
William Webster, a longtime U.S. public servant who served as the head of both the FBI and the CIA in a career spanning the late 1970s to the early 1990s, has died. He was 101. The FBI confirmed his death in a statement Friday. Webster, who was the only person to have led both agencies, "was a dedicated public servant who spent over 60 years in service to our country, including in the U.S. Navy, as a federal judge, director of the CIA, and his term as our Director from 1978-1987," the FBI statement said. As FBI director, Webster served under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. He then served as CIA director from 1987 to 1991 under Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. "As the only individual to have led both the FBI and the CIA, Judge Webster's unwavering integrity and dedication to public service set a standard for leadership in federal law enforcement," the FBI Agents Association said in a statement. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
CNN
08-08-2025
- Politics
- CNN
William Webster, former head of FBI and CIA, dies
Federal agencies National security FacebookTweetLink William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, has died. He was 101. 'The proud and loving family of the Honorable William H. Webster sadly announces the death of a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and patriot,' his family said in a statement Friday. At the time Webster was selected to lead the FBI in 1978 by then-President Jimmy Carter, the bureau's reputation was badly damaged by congressional revelations that unearthed corruption and extrajudicial spying on Americans under longtime Director J. Edgar Hoover. Webster, who was previously a Republican-appointed federal judge from Missouri, sought to restore the bureau's image: one of his first acts in office was to remove the bust of Hoover from the director's office, The Washington Post reported in a laudatory 1987 editorial. When his nine-year term leading the FBI concluded, Webster was quickly tapped by then-President Ronald Reagan to head up the CIA, which itself was in the middle of a public relations fiasco stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal. There, again, Webster moved to clean up the agency's image, this time by cracking down on the kinds of secret practices that led to the arms sale scandal and disciplining lower-ranking officials who were involved, The New York Times reported. His time at Langley, from 1987 to 1991, coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Persian Gulf war. Webster was highly regarded for his stewardship in both roles, at least as far as the mainstream press was concerned. Regarding his time as FBI director, the Post approvingly said Webster 'used his reputation for personal integrity to restore public confidence in a tarnished agency,' and the Times hailed his CIA leadership in restoring 'public trust in American intelligence.' Upon his departure from the CIA, Webster emphasized the need to establish public confidence in American intelligence agencies. 'We are entering a period of reexamination of the intelligence organization,' Webster said, a reference to the end of the Cold War. 'Whatever the outcome, I am convinced that the most important ingredient is professional respect and mutual trust. No laws can make these happen.' Webster was born March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, according to the FBI. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College, a law degree from Washington University Law School and served in the Navy as a lieutenant during both World War II and the Korean War. Webster served as a district judge in the Eastern District of Missouri from 1970 to 1973, and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 1973 to 1978, according to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, on which he held the title of chair emeritus. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. The FBI has at times called upon Webster's experience since his departure to conduct reviews on the agency, including following the exposure of double agent Robert Hanssen in 2001 and again in 2009 to review the 'policies, practices and actions' leading up to the massacre of 13 people and an unborn child by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood. Webster also served a three-week stint in 2002 on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which held the power to inspect and discipline auditing firms in the wake of corporate scandals like the fall of Enron. He occasionally made headlines in later life: Webster helped thwart a phone-scammer who, apparently not realizing the target, tried to extort the intelligence veteran and his wife Lynda in 2014 and penned an op-ed in The New York Times in 2019 condemning then-President Donald Trump for attacking the credibility of the FBI. 'Calling F.B.I. professionals 'scum,' as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe,' Webster wrote. Webster was married to Drusilla Lane Webster for 34 years until she died at age 57 in 1984. They had three children together, Amherst College reported in 2022. Webster remarried six years later to Lynda Clugston Webster. CNN's Jamie Gangel contributed to this report.
Bloomberg
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
William Webster, Only Person to Lead Both The FBI and CIA, Dies at 101
William Webster, the only person to lead both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency and, very briefly, the first head of the US accounting oversight board, has died. He was 101. His family announced his death in a statement that called him an 'extraordinary man' who 'spent a lifetime fighting to protect his country and its precious rule of law.'
CNN
08-08-2025
- Politics
- CNN
William Webster, former head of FBI and CIA, dies
William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, has died. He was 101. 'The proud and loving family of the Honorable William H. Webster sadly announces the death of a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and patriot,' his family said in a statement Friday. At the time Webster was selected to lead the FBI in 1978 by then-President Jimmy Carter, the bureau's reputation was badly damaged by congressional revelations that unearthed corruption and extrajudicial spying on Americans under longtime Director J. Edgar Hoover. Webster, who was previously a Republican-appointed federal judge from Missouri, sought to restore the bureau's image: one of his first acts in office was to remove the bust of Hoover from the director's office, The Washington Post reported in a laudatory 1987 editorial. When his nine-year term leading the FBI concluded, Webster was quickly tapped by then-President Ronald Reagan to head up the CIA, which itself was in the middle of a public relations fiasco stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal. There, again, Webster moved to clean up the agency's image, this time by cracking down on the kinds of secret practices that led to the arms sale scandal and disciplining lower-ranking officials who were involved, The New York Times reported. His time at Langley, from 1987 to 1991, coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Persian Gulf war. Webster was highly regarded for his stewardship in both roles, at least as far as the mainstream press was concerned. Regarding his time as FBI director, the Post approvingly said Webster 'used his reputation for personal integrity to restore public confidence in a tarnished agency,' and the Times hailed his CIA leadership in restoring 'public trust in American intelligence.' Upon his departure from the CIA, Webster emphasized the need to establish public confidence in American intelligence agencies. 'We are entering a period of reexamination of the intelligence organization,' Webster said, a reference to the end of the Cold War. 'Whatever the outcome, I am convinced that the most important ingredient is professional respect and mutual trust. No laws can make these happen.' Webster was born March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, according to the FBI. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College, a law degree from Washington University Law School and served in the Navy as a lieutenant during both World War II and the Korean War. Webster served as a district judge in the Eastern District of Missouri from 1970 to 1973, and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 1973 to 1978, according to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, on which he held the title of chair emeritus. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. The FBI has at times called upon Webster's experience since his departure to conduct reviews on the agency, including following the exposure of double agent Robert Hanssen in 2001 and again in 2009 to review the 'policies, practices and actions' leading up to the massacre of 13 people and an unborn child by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood. Webster also served a three-week stint in 2002 on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which held the power to inspect and discipline auditing firms in the wake of corporate scandals like the fall of Enron. He occasionally made headlines in later life: Webster helped thwart a phone-scammer who, apparently not realizing the target, tried to extort the intelligence veteran and his wife Lynda in 2014 and penned an op-ed in The New York Times in 2019 condemning then-President Donald Trump for attacking the credibility of the FBI. 'Calling F.B.I. professionals 'scum,' as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe,' Webster wrote. Webster was married to Drusilla Lane Webster for 34 years until she died at age 57 in 1984. They had three children together, Amherst College reported in 2022. Webster remarried six years later to Lynda Clugston Webster. CNN's Jamie Gangel contributed to this report.
