Jose Rodriguez’s career at the CIA spanned 31 years. He quickly built a reputation as the guy who could make things happen both in the field and at headquarters. An extremely rare trait in any organization. He is credited with guiding some of the agency’s greatest counterterror victories.He has served as the CIA Station Chief in numerous countries around the world including Panama, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
After the September 11 attacks, Rodriguez was appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Counterterrorism Center. In 2002, Rodriguez was again promoted to the post of Director of the Counterterrorism Center which is responsible for bringing together case officers, operators, analysts, and technologists to work on preventing terrorism. In this capacity, Rodriguez was responsible for driving the CIA operations and the targeting analysis necessary to uncover and dismantle the Al Qaeda network.
His skill and dedication made an immediate impact on the Agency’s leadership and in 2004 he became the CIA’s Deputy Director for Operations and, in an unusual move, continued as the Head of CIA clandestine operations as well. In this expanded role, Rodriguez was the chief of all human intelligence gathering (HUMINT) conducted by the U.S. government, including outside agencies. Upon retiring he assumed the position of Senior Vice President at Edge Consulting, a National Interest Security Company which was acquired by IBM. He left IBM to promote his book “Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives.
Today, he continues to use his talents to make the Homeland a safer place.