WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA officer credited with saving Hamid Karzai's life during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has been named director of the National Clandestine Service, the agency's spying arm.
The officer, a former Marine who is under cover and whose first name is Greg, was recently the head of the Special Activities Division, the CIA's elite paramilitary force. He has twice been station chief in Afghanistan, where in December 2001 he jumped to shield Karzai when the U.S. military accidentally bombed the position of the man who would become Afghanistan's president.
He earned Karzai's trust, and the Obama administration asked him to troubleshoot the fraught relationship with the Afghan leader in 2012, when he again served as station chief in Kabul.
The CIA confirmed that a new top spy had been chosen but declined to name him. Current and former officials identified him on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose his name.