Fmr CIA director Woolsey remembered for humor, service

"On the day of his inauguration, Bill Clinton came up to me and my wife, put his arms around us, and said 'We're going to work really close and do good things,'" Jim Woolsey, the 42nd president's first CIA director, told Newsmax in 2018.

"And that was the last time I saw him alone," Woolsey added, recalling how Clinton preferred reading the daily intelligence briefings he received from the CIA to being personally briefed by the director of "the company."

He often told a joke: "Remember the guy who in 1994 crashed his plane onto the White House lawn? That was me trying to get an appointment to see President Clinton."

"There's almost no limit to what a CIA director can do when he has the trust of the president of the United States," said Chris Whipple, author of the 2020 book "The Spymasters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future."

"Conversely, without it, a CIA director is doomed. Alas, Jim Woolsey fell into the latter category," Whipple said. 

When Woolsey died Tuesday at age 84 after a long illness, he was remembered less for what he accomplished at the CIA and more for his rich life after leaving office in December 1994 — not to mention his sense of humor and good nature to all who knew him.

He served on numerous boards related to national security and foreign policy, including the Arlington Institute, the Global Panel Foundation, and Freedom House — on whose board of trustees he served as chair. 

Woolsey was also chancellor of the Institute of World Politics. One consistent theme he emphasized in his post-CIA life was that the end of the Cold War did not mean a "Pax Universalis" (universal peace) and that there was still considerable evil in the world.

As he said while closing his stint at the CIA, "we have slain the dragon, but there are still many snakes in the woods."

A lifelong Democrat, Woolsey in his later years preferred to be called a "Henry Jackson Democrat" or "Joe Lieberman Democrat" after the senators from Washington state and Connecticut, respectively — pro-defense and supportive of world freedom but moderate to liberal on economic and social issues.

Woolsey was an adviser to Republican John McCain in his 2008 presidential campaign. In 2016, he advised Donald Trump but parted company with the GOP nominee when he criticized intelligence agencies.

To the end, the lack of a relationship with Clinton during his stint as CIA director notwithstanding, Woolsey stood foursquare with those in the intelligence community who put their lives on the line for the U.S.

When onetime CIA counterintelligence officer Aldrich Ames was discovered to be spying against the U.S., Woolsey defied congressional and press outcries for a wholesale sacking at the CIA.

"Some have clamored for heads to roll in order that we could say heads have rolled," he told reporters, "Sorry, that's not my way."

A graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School, Woolsey served in the Army and was general counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1970 to 1973. After a period in private law practice, Woolsey was named undersecretary of the Navy by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

To those who knew him best, Jim Woolsey was a man of mirth and fun. He loved to sing at a moment's notice. After an interview in the Newsmax studios, the former CIA director stunned fellow guests in the studio by breaking into "In Old Moscow," a satirical 1940 song about the Hitler-Stalin pact.

"Now the Nazis and Der Fuehrer/Stand within the party line/All the Russians love the Prussians/Volga boatmen sail the Rhine," Woolsey sang.

"Mr. Woolsey was easily the funniest serious person you could meet," Newsmax courts correspondent Michael Cozzi recalled. "Introducing himself as 'Jim from flyover country,' he often sang Willie Nelson and parody songs for his friends. I'll never forget singing 'Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys' or 'Deck the Halls With Boston Charlie' at a Christmas party around the piano."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.