Robert Trumbull Crowley (July 13, 1924October 8, 2000) was an officer in the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

beginning in 1947, achieving the rank of assistant director for clandestine operations, second in command of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which was in charge of

covert operations A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...

. A native of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

and graduate of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, he served in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

theater during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. While at West Point, Crowley played for the

Army Black Knights men's soccer The Army Black Knights men's soccer program represents the United States Military Academy (West Point) in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. Founded in 1921, the Black Knights compete in the Patriot League. The Black Knights p ...

program, where he was an

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

First-Team All-American in 1948. After the war, he remained in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1986.

''The New KGB: Engine of Soviet Power''

Crowley co-authored ''The New KGB: Engine of Soviet Power'' with William R. Corson. Released in 1985, the book asserts that the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

took control of the Communist Party and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Sources

Crowley was a source for David Wise's 1992 book ''Molehunt''. Journalist, conspiracy theorist, forger, and holocaust denier Gregory Douglas claimed to have conducted a series of interviews with Crowley in 1993, later published in 2013 in his book ''Conversations with the Crow.'' Douglas wrote that Crowley euphemistically told him the CIA had assassinated Indian Prime Minister

Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...

, as well as Indian nuclear scientist Homi Bhabha thirteen days apart in 1966 in order to thwart the

Indian nuclear programme India possesses nuclear weapons and previously developed chemical weapons. Although India has not released any official statements about the size of its nuclear arsenal, recent estimates suggest that India has 180 nuclear weapons. India has co ...

. The Indian media reported on these claims largely unquestioned.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowley, Robert 1924 births 2000 deaths People of the Central Intelligence Agency United States Army officers United States Military Academy alumni United States Army personnel of World War II Army Black Knights men's soccer players Men's association football players not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality