C.I.A. STATION CHIEF SLAIN NEAR ATHENS BY GUNMEN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100370011-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2004
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: December 24, 1975
• Content Type: NSPR

STAT
Approved For Releas 1 b O91k-: 61A- bP88-01314R000100370
24 Decwmbo)? 1-975
iC,JG tat- 1. 1f Slain
1? ear 14'thens - by" e
?? -' By STEVEN V. ROBERTS
Rpecial to ?rhe aee, Xork
ATHENS, Wednesday, Dec. lwas unhurt; . the spokesman
24--The station chief of the said:.
Central. Intelligence Agency:. in,_. The station ' chief, who was;
Greece was shot- and. killed-last; officiallyr; listed as a.. speci ci
night' by unidentified gunmen assistant: to the Ambassador,
outside his home,izi an Athens, arrived.-. in'-;Greece, within the
suburb. last six months. He lived in a
The station-chief, Richard S.ihouse in the suburb of Paleo
Welch, had attended a Christ-'Psychico,C'that had been used
mas party at the residence :of by many of his C.I.A. prede-1
the American Ambassador,-Jack cessors,
B. Kubisch. He had just stepped The American Embassy is-
out of his car-about 1.0 P.M.;suedthe following -statement:
when three masked gunmen) "The American Embassy con-
fired three shots at.him and firmed tonight that Mr. Rich-
sped away,, according to a and S. Welch, an officer of the
spokesman for the American 'embassy; was shot and killed
Embassy. i by unidentified assailants :inl
Mr, Welch was taken to' a `front of _ his.. residence :earlier;
local hospital,. where he died finis evening:`
several -minutes ester. ._? = I "The embassy Is cooperatingl
Mr. Welch's wife, who was.
with him when he was shot,I
Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : Cl
with the Greek authorities in
inv_istigating the matter. The
embassy declined to give any
further details pending the re-
lsuits of the investigation' and
unti; the next of kin have been
notified."
An En? lish language- daily,
The At en, -News, recently
printer a list or Ye top C.I.A.
officials in Greece, along with
their addresses and telephone
numbers. The paper said it had
received the information from
group calling itself the Com-
mittee of Greeks and Greek
.Americans.
The committee's statement
referred to the "destructive ac-
itivities" and "evil- work" of
the C.T.A., and said it had col-
~lected its information partly by
following and observing agency
officials here in Athens.
List of Soviet Agents Rejected
The report prompted .another
group to send the paver a list
allegedly containing the names
of Soviet intelligence agents in
Greece, but. the paper rfused
to print it.
Mr, Welch, 46 years oM was
an amiable man with a' trim
white mustache' and the man-
ners of a.tweedy college pro-
fessor. This corre>pondant
chatted with him at Ambassa-
dor.. Kubusch's residence about
an hour before the shooting.
politics, the agency has been
of in-
variet
d fo
bl
y
r a
ame
cidents, and almost every
American here has been stir-i
pected-at one time or another
-of being an agent.,
U.' S. journal Named Welch
spc a to The x F York T m 5
W ASHING I'ON Dec. 23 Mr. Welch was identified as a
C.I.A. clandestine operative last
summer by Counters quar-l
erly Washington publication
that came out of the war re-
When the subject of mentioned movement three years.
came tip. mr, Welch mentioned ago,
that he had served on 0.1- is- 'Winslow :Peck:. one: of five
land in the early 1960's, during, people who .write and edit
the first round of fiOtit:g. he- Counterspy, said in a telephone
tween Greek and Turkish Cy- interview that Counterspy-had
pilots.. "I- started-the- whole listed Mr.:' Welch as;.a-C.,1.A.
think" he joked. Then some operative. in -Pc ,here ;` ac-
Greek. dancing began and :he cording .to- the: State: Depart-
went over-to watch. : ment Biographic Directory; he
Large Operation in Greece,; served from 1972 to early this
The. Central, Intelligence year.
A.gencv has maintained a large . Mi. Peck said thrthe and his
operation . in Greece, which Counterspy colleague, Tirn Butz,
-? had.. intelligence experience ,in
shares.borders with three Com
the Air
rrluniSt countries-.-Albania, Bul- Force. He said:the. third
Countercpy. reporter involved
voila and ; Yuoosfavi'c --- and i
r n identifying Mr. Welch. and
touhht a civil war aoaithe l to others -was---Doug Porters?,a Coln-
s guerrillas in the late California journalist.
1940's. . It ds the general prac- The C.I.A. declined comment.
tice .fcr- the s chief to on any aspect of the reports. -
have 'official cover as a diplly According to the State De-
w
ellbut his identity is usually partment Biographic Register
well-known. Mr. Welch was born Dec. 14,
In recent, years the virulent iti- 1929, in Connecticut and was
c
,been ee. mainly yi from leftist t graduated from Harvard in
cam here. om
fpolitic`tl factions. The agency' is 1951.
widely blamed? without proof, He is listed as having, been
for helping to engineer the coup an economic analyst in the I
in 1967 that initiated more thanlPentagon from 1951 to 1960, k
seven years of military rule in; when he was assigned as an
Greece. Many of the leaders of economic officer for four years;
the , coup, including George to Nicosia, Cyprus. He was,as-
Pap'dopoulos, 'who later pro- signed to Guatemala i-n 1966:?
claimed- himself President, in 1966, in Guyana in 19671,
)served in Greek -intelligence and and; after three years in Wash- f
reportedly had close ties ?to.thd iiigton'to?Peru..',
c;. (.A. ,._ sr '-The State=Department Regis-i
.,C.ritic` alscs.char~.et},tbat_tt~E::.>Tr lisls.him as a. foreign sere-I;
in the coup-. that temporarily, listing for CIA operatives at-
Ideposed Archbishop Makarios,ltachecl to en lassies
te Prw_cidt of Cvnrus. in Julv'tt `?