R James Woolsey, embattled ex-CIA director under Bill Clinton, dies aged 84

Woolsey died of a stroke at Washington home after facing ‘Havana syndrome’ reported by some government officials

R James Woolsey , a national security expert who led the CIA for two turbulent years after his appointment by Bill Clinton , has died. He was 84.

Woolsey, who became CIA director in early 1993, died on Tuesday at his home in Washington, according to several newspapers. Conchita Sarnoff Woolsey, his wife, told the newspapers that he died from a stroke.

She told the Washington Post that his health had declined in recent years due to “ Havana syndrome ,” a mysterious condition that has been reported by some US diplomats and other government personnel. Symptoms, including headaches, balance problems and difficulties with thinking and sleep, were first reported in Cuba in 2016 – leading to the label.

Woolsey left the CIA in early 1995. Among criticisms he had faced were from those who felt there had been insufficient sanctions against supervisors of the confessed CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, who betrayed western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia. Ames, a career CIA officer, admitted being paid $2.5m by Moscow for US secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994.

Woolsey said the agency couldn’t fully protect itself against spies including Ames, and he cautioned against overreacting to the vulnerabilities exposed by Ames. He said there was a danger in going too far too fast, adding that overly strict security measures could lead to “a mood or attitude of paranoia and false accusations” that would further damage morale.

With the end of the cold war, Woolsey also faced pressure from lawmakers who sought to make deep cuts to the agency’s budget.

Before leading the CIA, he served as undersecretary of the navy in the Jimmy Carter administration and as an adviser on arms control issues to both Republican and Democratic presidents.

When he became director of the CIA, he was known for getting things done. He was appointed by George HW Bush in 1989 as a special negotiator for the languishing talks between the Nato alliance and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact on reducing weapons and troops in Europe. A year later, Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet president, signed the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty.

Woolsey was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on 21 September 1941. The graduate of Stanford University was a Rhodes scholar who got his law degree from Yale University. He began government work in 1970 as a staff member on the national security council, then moved to Capitol Hill to become general counsel to the Senate armed services committee.

Between stints in government work, he practiced law at a Washington firm.