By Steve Neavling
William H. Webster, the only person to serve as both FBI and CIA director and whose integrity was credited with restoring public trust in the agencies, died Friday at 101, his family announced, the Associated Press reports.
Webster led the FBI from 1978 to 1987 and the CIA from 1987 to 1991.
“Every director of the CIA or the FBI should be prepared to resign in the event that he is asked to do something that he knows is wrong,” he said after agreeing to lead the CIA.
President Jimmy Carter appointed Webster, a Republican, to head the FBI for 10 years as the bureau worked to recover from scandals over domestic spying and other abuses. He was credited with strengthening its response to emerging threats such as terrorism.
President Ronald Reagan later tapped him to replace CIA Director William J. Casey, who had been tied to the Iran-Contra scandal.
At both agencies, Webster was seen as an outsider with no political agenda. He regularly briefed congressional oversight committees, avoided shaping policy, and worked to ease tensions between the intelligence community and lawmakers.
Born in St. Louis on March 6, 1924, Webster served as a Navy lieutenant during World War II and again during the Korean War. He earned a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1949, practiced law, and served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri before President Richard Nixon appointed him to the federal bench in 1971. Nixon later elevated him to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
As FBI director, Webster increased diversity in the bureau and targeted organized crime, political corruption, and drug enforcement. His tenure included the Abscam sting, which led to the convictions of six members of Congress. At the CIA, he was credited with boosting morale and guiding the agency’s transition from the Cold War, though critics said it underestimated the collapse of the Soviet Union and failed to anticipate Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait.
