The Intelligence Star is an award given by the Central Intelligence Agency to its officers for "voluntary acts of courage performed under hazardous conditions or for outstanding achievements or services rendered with distinction under conditions of grave risk". The award citation is from the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and specifically cites actions of "extraordinary heroism". It is the third-highest award given by the Central Intelligence Agency, behind the Distinguished Intelligence Cross and Distinguished Intelligence Medal, and is analogous to the Silver Star, the US military award for extraordinary heroism in combat.Bush At War, Bob Woodward, Simon and Schuster, 2002, page 317 Only a few dozen people have received this award (mostly posthumously), making it one of the rarest valor awards awarded by the US government.
Recipients Many recipients have reportedly been Paramilitary Operations Officers from the CIA's Special Activities Center, Special Operations Group, Ground Branch, which selects its members from the U.S. military's most elite units, including the Navy's DEVGRU ('SEAL Team 6') and SEALs, the Army's Delta Force, Special Forces, and Rangers; and the Marine Corps' Force Reconnaissance and MARSOC.
The recipients whose identities are known are:
Grayston L. Lynch Grayston Lynch (1923–2008) was one of the CIA/Special Activities Division (SAD) Paramilitary Operations Officers who commanded the Cuban rebel army during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He was the first to land on the beach and fired the initial shots of the battle. He is revered among Cuban Americans for his heroics during the failed invasion, which included several rescue missions to save stranded members of Brigade 2506. The other CIA Paramilitary Officer at the Bay of Pigs was William "Rip" Robertson, who had an extraordinary history of valor in service to his country. Lynch was wounded at Normandy, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, Heartbreak Ridge in Korea, served with the Special Forces in Laos, and received three Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and one Bronze Star with a "V" for valor in combat. He was selected to become a Paramilitary Operations Officer in the CIA's Special Activities Division in 1960. For his extraordinary heroism during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Lynch was awarded the Intelligence Star, the "CIA's most coveted award". In the six years after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, he ran commando raids into Cuba. Lynch retired from the CIA in 1971. He wrote a book, Decision for Disaster: Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs, based on his experience leading Brigade 2506.Decision for Disaster: Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs, Grayston L. Lynch, Potomac Books, Inc., 2000
Félix Ismael Rodríguez Félix Rodríguez was a Paramilitary Operations Officer from SAD. He was born in Cuba in 1941. Rodriguez was infiltrated into Cuba before the Bay of Pigs Invasion.Fabian Escalante, The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959–62 He led the CIA/SAD team into Bolivia that captured Che Guevara, served in Vietnam, and received the Intelligence Star and the Silver Star for his actions in combat as part of a joint CIA/US Military unit called MAC-V SOG and the Phoenix Program. He was also a recipient of nine Crosses for Gallantry from the South Vietnamese government.Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of 100 unknown battles, Felix Rodriguez and John Weisman, Simon & Schuster, 1989, In addition, Rodriguez was involved in the SAD paramilitary program in Nicaragua which was considered tactically very successful, but politically very controversial. This program eventually became part of the Iran Contra Affair. Rodriguez testified in this matter as a witness.Iran-Contra's Untold Story, by Robert Parry and Peter Kornbluh, Foreign Policy, No. 72 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 3–30
Douglas Seymour MacKiernan In 1949, Douglas Seymour Mackiernan was a CIA officer in China. MacKiernan volunteered to stay behind while every other U.S. official fled the country, in order to provide the only intelligence available to the President of the United States about the takeover of the Communist forces of Mao Zedong. He was eventually forced to flee on horseback over the Himalayas to India. Armed with machine guns and supported by a few local men employed by the CIA, he lived off the land for several months. While waiting for the opportunity to make the trek over the mountains to Tibet, MacKiernan was killed in a firefight near Lhasa. However, his men made it with his reports and information. The North Koreans crossed the 38th parallel 13 days later, starting the Korean War. The intelligence that MacKiernan passed from China helped U.S. leaders prepare for military action and understand the Chinese involvement in the Korean War.
Anthony Alexander Poshepny Anthony Alexander Poshepny (1924–2003), known as Tony Poe, was a CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer in what is now called SAD. He trained the Secret Army in Laos during the Vietnam War. In 1959, he received the Star for his heroic actions while leading these forces in combat. He was assigned with J. Vinton Lawrence to train Hmong hill tribes in Laos to fight North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces. In Laos, Poshepny gained the honor and respect of the Hmong forces with his actions in combat and his victory among and on the battlefield. He and his Hmong fighters collected the ears of dead enemy soldiers; on at least one occasion, he mailed a bag of ears to the U.S. embassy in Vientiane to prove his body counts. He also dropped severed heads onto enemy locations twice in a grisly form of psy-ops. He was wounded several times, but refused to leave his troops to be evacuated. Over several years, Poshepny grew disillusioned with the U.S. government's management of the war. The CIA extracted him from Laos in 1970 and reassigned him to Thailand until his retirement in 1974. He received another Intelligence Star in 1975 for an undisclosed operation. Several press stories have suggested that Poshepny was the model for Colonel Walter Kurtz in the film Apocalypse Now. He was one of the driving forces behind the Laos Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Wilbur "Will" Green Wilbur "Will" Green served as a paramilitary case officer in the Secret War in Laos. On two occasions, he led the guerrillas under his command in battles against the Vietnamese of Campaign 139 when they threatened to end the war by defeating Vang Pao's Clandestine Army.
George Bacon George Bacon served as a paramilitary case officer in Laos under call sign Kayak. He was later killed in the Angolan Civil War.
John Merriman John G. Merriman was serving as an instructor for Cuban exile pilots in the Congo during the Simba Rebellion when his T-28 Trojan was shot down. He was severely injured in the crash and died several weeks later after a delay in medical attention and evacuation caused his physical state to deteriorate, resulting in his death in 1964.
Howard Phillips Hart Howard Hart had a Ph.D. in Asian politics and spoke both the Hindi and Urdu languages. He was recruited and joined the CIA in 1965. He spent two years at Camp Peary in Virginia, attending the "standard two-year course for aspiring case officers" and then reported to the Directorate of Operations (now called the National Clandestine Service). In 1978, Hart began working on the streets of Tehran. His reports that, contrary to over 15 years of CIA estimates, the Shah's rule was far from stable or secure were suppressed by more senior personnel within the CIA. He was captured a few days after the Shah's fall by an armed group of supporters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and escaped summary execution by appealing to speak to a mullah, who agreed that the Koran did not sanction such punishment.Tim Weiner, 2007. Legacy of ashes pp368-369.
Hart worked as the CIA Chief of Station in Islamabad, Pakistan from May 1981 until 1984. He started the CIA efforts to equip the Afghan resistance with weapons and supplies to allow them to mount an effective campaign during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Hart said, "I was the first chief of station ever sent abroad with this wonderful order: 'Go kill Soviet soldiers'. Imagine! I loved it." Hart's background as a Paramilitary Operations Officer made him a perfect candidate to be the field general for the covert war in Afghanistan. He led these efforts from the front lines of Afghanistan. For his actions during the Soviet occupation, he received the Intelligence Star.Charlie Wilsons War, by George Crile, Grove Press, 2007, , p. 121
William Francis Buckley William Francis Buckley (1928–1985) was an Army Special Forces officer and a Paramilitary Operations Officer in the Special Activities Division of the CIA. He died on or about June 3, 1985 after being held captive by members of Hezbollah. He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, and is commemorated with a star on the Memorial Wall at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. On October 4, 1985, Islamic Jihad announced that it had executed William Buckley.US Security Council, "U.S./Iranian Contacts and the American Hostages" – "Maximum Version" of NSC Chronology of Events, dated November 17, 1986, 2000 Hours – Top Secret, Chronology, November 17, 1986, 12 pp. (Unclassified) However, Buckley's remains were not recovered until 1991, when they were found in a plastic sack on the side of the road en route to the Beirut airport. He had been severely tortured. His body was returned to the United States on December 28, 1991.
A public memorial service was held with full military honors at Arlington on May 13, 1988, just short of three years after his presumed death date. At the service, attended by more than 100 colleagues and friends, CIA Director William H. Webster eulogized Buckley, saying, "Bill's success in collecting information in situations of incredible danger was exceptional, even remarkable with help of Miles Agha." Among Colonel Buckley's Army awards are the Silver Star, Soldier's Medal, Bronze Star with a V-device, two Purple Hearts, Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Parachutist Badge. He also received the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Bronze Star from the ARVN. Among his CIA awards are the Intelligence Star, the Exceptional Service Medallion and the Distinguished Intelligence Cross.
Gregory S. Keough Gregory Keough was a Covert Operations Officer for the CIA during the Cold War in the late 1980's to early 1990's. He was awarded the Intelligence Star by the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Robert Gates for his actions during an overseas rescue. Mr. Keough is one of the few living recipients of the Intelligence Star.
After leaving the CIA, he became a technology entrepreneur and was profiled in The Dinner Club, a 2002 book about the dot-com era. In 2021, Keough and a business partner were charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for offering unregistered securities and misleading investors about the operations and profitability of their decentralized finance platform, DeFi Money Market. They settled the charges without admitting wrongdoing and paid over $12.8 million in disgorgement and penalties. In 2023, Keough pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and money laundering related to fraudulent COVID-19 relief loan applications. He was sentenced in 2024 to 30 months in federal prison.
Gary Berntsen