Description: Jack’s presentation focused on the breadth and importance of the CIA’s mission, the challenges of getting and keeping the best possible employees, what the CIA does and doesn’t do, who cares, and why it takes so much money to keep doing what it does. He will take questions after the presentation and likely will not have to wimp out on the answers too often.
Jack Davis’ Bio: Jack escaped Baton Rouge by joining the Army in ‘61, was assigned to Army Intelligence and served two years on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido as part of a large US activity to electronically snoop on Soviet military activities in the far east. In ‘64 he reentered LSU and bounced around in engineering, architecture and economics receiving a BA in Economics in ‘67 and pursued a MS in Systems Management from USC in the 1970s.
Jack worked his way through school with the GI Bill and working for AT&T, the Bell System, Louisiana Electronics and as an audio engineer for a radio station. Upon graduation he was offered positions by the CIA, NSA and DIA. Having had enough of the military Jack chose CIA to interpret satellite photography of the USSR and later as a physical scientist analyzing Soviet and Chinese missile and space tracking capabilities. Other positions included: a stint writing and coordinating articles on Soviet and Chinese missile and space developments for President Carter, Recruitment Coordinator for the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence, Executive Secretary of a Pentagon committee that coordinates intelligence positions among our allies, several management positions and a few more squirrely projects he still can’t talk about. Upon retirement Jack was awarded the Career Intelligence Medal by the Director, CIA. He is a co-author of a waiting-to-be-published book on CIA intelligence breakthroughs in the heyday of interpretation of early satellite photography.
Jack’s other interests include: sailing, genealogy, shooting, wilderness backpacking, voluntary simplicity, sustainable living, sustainable economics, environmental issues, sustainable radio communications and SETI. Jack holds a general class amateur radio license (KM4QJY).
