Burn Before Reading

Stansfield Turner was born in Highland Park, Illinois on December. 1, 1923. He was admitted to the United States Naval Academy in 1943. He received degrees in politics, economics, and philosophy from Oxford University in 1950. As he rose through the ranks during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he commanded a minesweeper, a destroyer, a carrier group, and a fleet. He served as president of the Naval War College from 1972 to 1974. He was an admiral commanding the southern flank of NATO when President Jimmy Carter asked him to become the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Turner became director on March 9, 1977 and served for all four years of Carter's presidency.

Turner spent his remaining years writing and lecturing on the C.I.A. and American national security. He wrote several books including Secrecy and Democracy: The CIA in Transition and Burn Before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence. He died on January 18, 2018 at the age of 94.

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