William Perry Crowell (born November 26, 1940) is the former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency.
Early life
Crowell was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1940. His family moved to Dallas, TX in 1952 where he attended Woodrow Wilson High School. He was a member of the ROTC reaching the rank of Lt. Colonel, was a member of the rifle team and led the Pershing Rifles performance group. In 1956 he was elected President of Key Club International, a high school community service organization of 65,000 members and in that capacity traveled extensively, including a trip with Radio Free Europe to European capitals for meetings with senior officials of West Germany, Berlin, Paris and London. A native of Louisiana, Crowell currently resides in Leesburg, Virginia with his wife Judy.<ref
Professional career
Early NSA career (1962 –1989) Crowell entered on duty with the National Security Agency in July 1962. His first assignment was as a recruiter for Masters and PhD graduates in Engineering, Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science at leading universities. After serving in several capacities in HR, he accepted a division chief assignment overseas. Upon completing that assignment, he returned to headquarters as a special assistant to the Director NSA in the Office of the Executive Director and served under two directors of the Agency in that capacity. During the remainder of his early career at NSA he served in a wide variety of assignments including Head of special projects for A Group (Operations Analysis); Deputy Chief of Counterintelligence (and acting Chief) for A Group; Chief of Staff for A2, Deputy Chief R&D for military systems; Assistant Deputy Director for Administration, Chief of the Science and Technology Organization; Chief of the Analysis Organization for the Soviet Union; and Deputy Director for Plans and Programs. In July 1989 he resigned from the National Security Agency.
Aerospace Industry (1989-1990) Vice President at Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation (1989–1990) In 1989 Crowell became Vice President and Director of Space Systems of Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation. Atlantic Aerospace worked in many areas of research and development, including imagery processing techniques, signals processing, mathematics research, high-precision radar, and low-observable technology. Mr. Crowell established a new business that drew upon the technology strengths of the company to produce products for the Intelligence Community and successfully positioned the company to perform satellite systems work for the Aerospace Corporation and the NRO.
Chief of Staff, NSA (1990–1991) Crowell returned to the NSA in 1990 just days before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to become Chief of Staff of the Agency. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Crowell directed the daily activities of the office of the Director and Deputy Director of NSA, including the oversight of congressional relations and external customer relations. He represented the Director and Deputy Director in external activities, including public speeches, intelligence community boards, congressional testimony and oversight boards. In response to the challenges of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Mr. Crowell developed a number of information systems, including networks, information displays, analyst support systems, and video- conferencing systems that provided the Directorate with access to real time information and also were used to improve analyst interaction and production.
Deputy Director for Operations, National Security Agency 1991-1994
The National Security Operations Center is responsible for carrying out the Signals Intelligence mission of the National Security Agency (NSA). This involves operating collection facilities across the globe, processing the signals that are collected, and producing intelligence reports for high-level policy makers and military leaders.
During his tenure, Mr. Crowell implemented significant changes to the scope, cost, and efficiency of these operations. He closed down the majority of conventional collection sites, which had employed thousands of people, and replaced them with a new structure of remote collection systems located in three regional collection facilities. He also initiated the development of new collection systems that focused on modern telecommunications and information technologies, as well as the emerging global Internet.