WILLIAM EGAN COLBY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100060009-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Content Type: BIO

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100060009-7
WILLIAM EGAN COLBY
Mr. William E. Colby was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in
1920. The son of an Army officer, his early life was spent in
various posts, including a three-year period in Tientsin, China.
In 1940 he was graduated from Princeton University and in
1941 joined the United States Army, serving in the Parachute Field Artillery. When the Office of Strategic Services
lunt peut
red
out a call for French speakers in 1943, Mr. Colby
and in 1944 was parachuted behind enemy lines in north central
France to work with a resistance unit. ShortlyrbeforeNthe end
of the war in 1945, he led a team dropped
to destroy a rail line used for transporting German reinforce-
ments.
Following the war, Mr. Colby obtained his law degree from
Columbia -aw School and joined a New York law firm headed by
William J. Donovan, former head of OSS. He is a member of the
New York State and U. S. Supreme Court bars. ed his In 1949 Mr. Colby aforpthe NationaltLabor Relationsnt
position as an attorney joined the staff of the
Board in Washington. In 1951 he American Embassy in Stockholm and from 1953 to 1958 served in
the American Embassy in Rome, Italy.
Mr. Colby became First Secretary
foroantassignmentnasmChief
in Saigon in 1959, leaving in in
of the Far East Division of the Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D. C.
In March 1968 Mr. Colby joined the Agency for International Development and was posted to Saigon to assume the post of
to the
frDeputyhe
Assistant Chief of Staff and in of
Commander of MACV for thecOfD~aprogram
campaign, with the
Government of Vietnam's pa t-
personal rank of Ambassador. He was reassigned to the Depart-
ment of State on 30 June
On 10 January 1972 Mr. Colby was appointed Executive
Director-Comptroller of the Central Intelligence Ageency. Mr.
Colby was appointed Deputy Director for operations
3 March 1973. On 10 May 1973 President NixaonndnominaCotelbyd
Colby as Director of Central Intelligence, Mr. was
sworn in on 4 September 1973.
Mr. Colby is married to the former Barbara Heinzen.
They have four children and reside in Bethesda.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/11: CIA-RDP99-00418R000100060009-7