Alvin Bernard "Buzzy" Krongard (born October 25, 1936) was the executive director of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

. He was appointed by

George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Pr ...

on March 16, 2001. The Executive Director is the third ranking position within the CIA and the incumbent functions essentially as the Chief Operating Officer of the Agency. For three years prior, Krongard had served as Counselor to the

Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security ...

(DCI). A longtime consultant to DCIs, Krongard joined the Agency full-time in February 1998, following a 29-year business career. During his private sector career, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Alex. Brown & Sons, the nation's oldest investment banking firm, and Vice Chairman of the Board of

Bankers Trust Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpo ...

. Krongard graduated with honors from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

with an A.B. in philosophy in 1958 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Nature and Meaning of Religious Propositions." He then received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree with honors from the

University of Maryland School of Law The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland ...

. While at Princeton, Krongard played

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensi ...

. In 1980, he was inducted as a member of the

National Lacrosse Hall of Fame The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, is located in Sparks, Maryland at the USA Lacrosse headquarters. Prior to moving to its present location in 2016, the hall of fame and museum was located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood campu ...

. Krongard played for the storied amateur

Mount Washington Lacrosse Club The Mount Washington Lacrosse Club is an amateur field lacrosse club based in Baltimore, Maryland. As one of the most successful and well-known lacrosse clubs in history, at one point it dominated the sport at both the collegiate and club level. Th ...

. He served three years of active duty as an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...

officer in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

. Krongard resigned from the CIA shortly after the arrival of DCI

Porter Goss Porter Johnston Goss (; born November 26, 1938) is an American politician and government official who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 until 2004, when he became the last Director of Central Intellig ...

in September 2004. While at the CIA, he was the connection between

Erik Prince Erik Dean Prince (born June 6, 1969) is an American businessman, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, and the founder of the private military company Blackwater. He served as Blackwater's CEO until 2009 and as its chairman until its sale to a grou ...

Blackwater Security Consulting Blackwater was an American private military company founded on December 26, 1996 by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009 and known as Academi since 2011 after it was acquired by a group of private investors. ...

and the CIA. Through his influence, Blackwater was able to receive its first black contract. On March 18, 2005, Krongard was appointed as an outside US director to the Global Board of Directors organized to oversee and coordinate the worldwide operations of

DLA Piper DLA Piper is a multinational law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it had a total revenue of US$3.47 billion, an average profit per equity partner of U ...

, one of the world's largest law firms.

Family

Krongard is the brother of State Department Inspector General

Howard Krongard Howard J. "Cookie" Krongard (born December 12, 1940), is an American attorney and former government official who served as Inspector General of the Department of State during the George W. Bush Administration. After being accused of averting probe ...

. Krongard is a native of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and resides in Baltimore, Maryland and

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxi ...

. He was married to the late Patricia A. Lion and has three adult sons. He is Jewish. Patrica Lion's sister,

Margo Lion Margo Allison Lion (October 13, 1944 – January 24, 2020) was a producer for plays and musicals both on Broadway and off-Broadway, known for her role in producing the stage and screen hit '' Hairspray''. Combined, the works Lion produced won 20 ...

, is a

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

producer. On 31 July 2004 Krongard married

Cheryl Gordon Cheryl is a female given name common in English speaking countries. There are several prevailing theories about its etymology. The most common is that it has Italo-Celtic roots and is an Anglicised version of either the French name Cherie (from ...

(née Cheryl Gruetzmacher), at that time a senior executive for

Apollo Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...

. She has since become a director of

Legg Mason Legg Mason was an American investment management and asset management firm headquartered in Baltimore, founded in 1899 and acquired by Franklin Templeton Investments as of July 2020. As of December 31, 2019, the company had $730.8 billion in as ...

and

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon ...

Controversies

9/11

Krongard's name was brought up in conjunction with investigations into suspected 9/11-related insider trading because of timely

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

trades made through the investment bank he used to head, Alex. Brown. The

9/11 Commission Report ''The 9/11 Commission Report'' (officially the ''Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States)'' is the official report into the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was prep ...

stated:

A single U.S.-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the
UAL UAL or ual may refer to: Education * University of the Arts London, a public research university in London, UK * Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, a private university in Lisbon, Portugal * University of Action Learning, a unaccredited online univ ...
puts on September 6 (2001) as part of a strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...
on September 10. Similarly, much of the seemingly suspicious trading on September 10 was traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter…which recommended these trades.

Blackwater

At a November 14, 2007

House oversight committee The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in ...

hearing about

Blackwater Blackwater or Black Water may refer to: Health and ecology * Blackwater (coal), liquid waste from coal preparation * Blackwater (waste), wastewater containing feces, urine, and flushwater from flush toilets * Blackwater fever, an acute kidney disea ...

, investigating allegations of improper interference by Krongard's brother, Howard, in Justice Department investigations of Blackwater and other State Department contractors, Chairman

Henry Waxman Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district included much of the western part of the city of ...

stated that A. B. Krongard was on "Blackwater's advisory board". Howard Krongard at first denied that his brother had any connection with Blackwater, saying:

I can tell you, very frankly, I am not aware of any financial interest or position he has with respect to Blackwater. When these ugly rumors started recently, I specifically asked him. I do not believe it is true that he is a member of the advisory board that you stated. And that's something I think I need to say.Brother of State Dept. Official Linked to Blackwater
Matthew Jaffe,
ABC News ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...
, November 14, 2007

However, when confronted with a July 26 letter from Blackwater founder and CEO

to Buzzy Krongard asking him to join Blackwater's advisory board, followed by a September 5 letter welcoming Krongard to the board and a report from Rep.

Elijah Cummings Elijah Eugene Cummings (January 18, 1951October 17, 2019) was an American politician and civil rights advocate who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1996 until his death in 2019, when he was succeeded by his predecess ...

stating that Buzz Krongard had been expected to attend a Blackwater board meeting earlier that week, Krongard said he had called his brother during the ensuing break in the hearings and learned of this conflict of interest for the first time, saying "I'm not my brother's keeper, and we don't discuss our business with each other". He then recused himself from the investigation. Committee chairman

issued a memorandum The ballad of Cookie and Buzzy Krongard. - By Bonnie Goldstein - Slate Magazine
/ref> summarizing the discrepancies between the two brothers' recollections of what Buzzy told Howard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krongard, Alvin Bernard 1936 births Living people People of the Central Intelligence Agency University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumni Baltimore City College alumni George W. Bush administration controversies Princeton University alumni Mount Washington Lacrosse Club players American chief operating officers