[R-G] CIA officer named to Cuba-Venezuela post

[Anthony Fenton]

  CIA officer named to Cuba-Venezuela post
Posted on Fri, Oct. 05, 2007


BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet at MiamiHerald.com


WASHINGTON --

Timothy Langford, a career CIA officer, has been appointed as the new  
Cuba and Venezuela mission manager for the Office of the Director of  
National Intelligence -- a position that coordinates information  
gathering for areas considered top priorities.
Langford, 48, spent 25 years dealing with Latin American issues at  
the CIA. He holds a master's degree in Latin American studies from  
the University of Texas at Austin.


Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the national intelligence office,  
said Langford took his new position Oct. 1 but declined to elaborate  
on his previous assignments within the CIA.


President Bush suggested the creation of the Cuba and Venezuela post  
after Fidel Castro became ill. The then-intelligence chief, John  
Negroponte, appointed Norman Bailey, a former Reagan administration  
official and Cold War expert to the post.


But Bailey was dismissed by new director Mike McConnell in February,  
a move that raised concerns among Miami Republican Reps. Ileana Ros- 
Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart that the intelligence community was  
downgrading the importance of Cuba and Venezuela.


Patrick Maher, a 31-year CIA veteran and national intelligence  
officer for the Western Hemisphere, held the Cuba-Venezuela mission  
manager position on an interim basis.


McConnell ''wanted to make certain he had the best person to fill  
this position,'' Feinstein said.


Langford's appointment brings the team of mission managers back up to  
six, with three country specialists -- Iran, North Korea, Cuba- 
Venezuela -- and three managers for counterterrorism, counter- 
proliferation and counterintelligence issues.


The Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinates the  
intelligence work of 16 U.S. government agencies.


Langford is seen as a person who combines analytical skills and  
operational experience.


''I think he's a good fit for this position,'' said Brian Latell, a  
former CIA Cuba analyst and now a researcher with the Institute for  
Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami. ``You  
have to work very effectively with operative and analytical people.  
That's often a difficult bridge.''