Editing Richard Helms (section)

{{short description|U.S. Director of Central Intelligence (1966–1973)}}
{{for|the Australian naturalist|Richard Helms (naturalist)}}
{{multiple issues|
{{tone|date=May 2022}}
{{over-quotation|date=May 2022}}}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Richard Helms
| image               = Richard M Helms.jpg
| office              = [[United States Ambassador to Iran]]
| president           = [[Richard Nixon]]<br />[[Gerald Ford]]
| term_start          = April 5, 1973
| term_end            = December 27, 1976
| predecessor         = [[Joseph S. Farland]]
| successor           = [[William H. Sullivan]]
| office1             = 8th [[Director of Central Intelligence]]
| president1          = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]<br />[[Richard Nixon]]
| deputy1             = [[Rufus Taylor]]<br />[[Robert E. Cushman Jr.]]<br />[[Vernon A. Walters]]
| term_start1         = June 30, 1966
| term_end1           = February 2, 1973
| predecessor1        = [[William Raborn]]
| successor1          = [[James R. Schlesinger]]
| office2             = 7th [[Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency|Deputy Director of Central Intelligence]]
| president2          = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| term_start2         = April 28, 1965
| term_end2           = June 30, 1966
| predecessor2        = [[Marshall Carter]]
| successor2          = [[Rufus Taylor]]
| office3             = [[Deputy Director of CIA for Operations|Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Plans]]
| president3          = [[John F. Kennedy]]<br />Lyndon B. Johnson
| term_start3         = February 17, 1962
| term_end3           = April 28, 1965
| predecessor3        = [[Richard M. Bissell Jr.]]
| successor3          = [[Desmond Fitzgerald (CIA officer)|Desmond Fitzgerald]]
| birth_name          = Richard McGarrah Helms
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1913|3|30}}
| birth_place         = {{nowrap|[[St. Davids, Pennsylvania|St. Davids]], Pennsylvania, U.S.}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2002|10|23|1913|3|30}}
| death_place         = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| restingplace        = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| education           = [[Williams College]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}
| allegiance          = {{flag|United States}}
| branch              = {{flag|United States Navy|23px}}
| serviceyears        = 1942–1946
| battles             = [[World War II]]
| relations           = [[Gates W. McGarrah]] (grandfather)
| caption             = Official portrait {{circa|1966–72}}
}}

'''Richard McGarrah Helms''' (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) was an American government official and diplomat who served as [[Director of Central Intelligence]] (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. Helms began intelligence work with the [[Office of Strategic Services]] during World War II. Following the 1947 creation of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA), he rose in its ranks during the presidencies of Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy. Helms then was DCI under Presidents [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]] and [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]],<ref name="cia.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no4/article06.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613113402/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol46no4/article06.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 13, 2007|title=Richard Helms: The Intelligence Professional Personified |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref> yielding to [[James R. Schlesinger]] in early 1973.

As a spy, Helms highly valued information gathering (favoring the [[Human intelligence (intelligence collection)|interpersonal]], but including the [[Signals Intelligence|technical]], obtained by [[espionage]] or from published media) and its analysis while prizing [[counterintelligence]]. Although a participant in planning such activities, Helms remained a skeptic about [[Covert operation|covert]] and [[paramilitary]] operations. While working as the DCI, Helms managed the agency following the lead of his predecessor [[John McCone]]. In 1977, as a result of earlier covert operations in Chile, Helms became the only DCI convicted of misleading Congress. Helms's last post in government service was [[United States Ambassador to Iran|Ambassador to Iran]] from April 1973 to December 1976. Besides this Helms was a key witness before the Senate during its investigation of the CIA by the [[Church Committee]] in the mid-1970s, 1975 being called the "Year of Intelligence".<ref>See relevant text below for the references.</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2022}} This investigation was hampered severely by Helms having ordered the destruction of all files related to the CIA's [[Project MKUltra|mind control program]] in 1973.<ref name="Cia">{{cite web | title=An Interview with Richard Helms | date= 2007-05-08 | url = https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no4/html/v44i4a07p_0021.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100427043605/https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol44no4/html/v44i4a07p_0021.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = April 27, 2010 | publisher = [[Central Intelligence Agency]] | access-date = 2008-03-16 }}</ref>