President Mary J.C. Hendrix (r.) and Karen Rice, director of Shepherd’s Lifelong Learning program, join speaker Fred Turco.
Fred Turco, who served for 40 years as a Central Intelligence Agency officer, presented a President’s Lecture on October 23 titled “Discussion of American Intelligence Community from World War II to 2000.”
Turco spent 18 years abroad as a CIA field case officer during which time he was in charge of two major overseas offices. Following his overseas post, Turco ran three separate offices at CIA Headquarters, two of which he established. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Directors Award, the Distinguished Intelligence Award, the Distinguished Career Intelligence Award, the Distinguished Officer in the Senior Intelligence Service Award, and two Donovan Awards. He also received letters of commendation from the FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Marines, U.S. Military Special Forces, and several other U.S. government organizations.
During his lecture, Turco discussed the evolution of the intelligence community into its current 16 components and continuing issues regarding coordination among the agencies.
The next talk in the President’s Lecture Series, now in its second year, will feature filmmaker James Barrat who will speak about artificial intelligence on Monday, November 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education auditorium.