William Eldridge Odom is a former U.S. Army 3-star general, and was Director of the NSA under President Ronald Reagan, which culminated a 31 year career in military intelligence, mainly specializing in matters relating to the Soviet Union. After his retirement from the military he became a think tank policy expert and a university professor and has since became known for his outspoken criticism of the Iraq War and warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.
General Odom earned a national reputation as an expert on the Soviet Union. In 1977, he was appointed as the military assistant to Zbigniew Brzezinski, the hawkish assistant to President Jimmy Carter for national security affairs. Primary issues he focused on at this time included American-Soviet relations, including the SALT nuclear weapons talks, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iran hostage crisis, presidential directives on the situation in the Persian Gulf, terrorism and hijackings, and the executive order on telecommunications policy. From November 1981 to May 1985, Odom served as the Army’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. From 1985 to 1988, he served as the director of the National Security Agency, the United States’ largest intelligence agency, under president Ronald Reagan. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he specializes in military issues, intelligence, and international relations. He is also an adjunct professor at Yale University, where he teaches seminar courses in U.S. National Security Policy and Russian Politics. General Odom is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Eldridge_Odom
