# Angelo Codevilla
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{{Short description|Italian political philosopher (1943–2021)}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2012}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|name = Angelo Codevilla
|image = Angelo Codevilla by Gage Skidmore.jpg
|birth_name = Angelo Maria Codevilla
|birth_date = {{birth date|1943|05|25}}
|birth_place = [Voghera](/source/Voghera), [Italy](/source/Kingdom_of_Italy)
|death_date = {{death date and age|2021|09|20|1943|05|25}}
|death_place = [Tracy, California](/source/Tracy%2C_California), U.S.
|education = [Rutgers University, New Brunswick](/source/Rutgers_University%E2%80%93New_Brunswick) ([BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts))
[University of Notre Dame](/source/University_of_Notre_Dame) ([MA](/source/Master_of_Arts))
[Claremont University Center](/source/Claremont_Graduate_University) ([PhD](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy))
|awards = [Churchill Fellowship](/source/Winston_Churchill_Memorial_Trusts) (1975)
[Western philosophy](/source/Western_philosophy)
|website = {{URL|bu.edu/pardeeschool/profile/angelo-codevilla|University site}}
{{URL|hoover.org/fellows/angelo-m-codevilla|Hoover site}}
}}
'''Angelo Maria Codevilla''' (May 25, 1943 – September 20, 2021) was an Italian American professor of [international relations](/source/international_relations) at what is now the [Pardee School of Global Studies](/source/Pardee_School_of_Global_Studies) at [Boston University](/source/Boston_University). He served as a [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) officer, a foreign service officer, and professional staff member of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the [United States Senate](/source/United_States_Senate).[{{Cite book | chapter=10. Political Warfare: Means for Achieving Political Ends | title=Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare | last=Codevilla | first=Angelo M. | author-link=Angelo Codevilla | location=Washington, D.C. | edition=Revised | editor-last=Waller | editor-first=J. Michael | editor-link= | publisher=[The Institute of World Politics](/source/The_Institute_of_World_Politics) Press | date=March 2, 2009 | isbn=978-0979223648 | access-date=July 5, 2014 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfBCAgAAQBAJ}}] Codevilla's books and articles range from French and Italian politics to the thoughts of Machiavelli and Montesquieu to arms control, war, the technology of ballistic missile defenses, and a broad range of international topics. Articles by Codevilla have appeared in ''[Commentary](/source/Commentary_(magazine))'', ''[Foreign Affairs](/source/Foreign_Affairs)'', ''[National Review](/source/National_Review)'', and ''[The New Republic](/source/The_New_Republic)''. His op-eds have appeared in ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', ''[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal)'', ''[The American Spectator](/source/The_American_Spectator)'' and ''[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)''.[{{Cite news|last=Risen|first=Clay|date=October 3, 2021|title=Angelo Codevilla, Whose Writings Anticipated Trumpism, Dies at 78|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/obituaries/angelo-codevilla-dead.html|access-date=October 4, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}] son of Angelo (a businessman) and Serena (Almangano) Codevilla. He emigrated to the United States in 1955, and [became a United States citizen](/source/Citizenship_of_the_United_States) in 1962.
He graduated from [Rutgers University](/source/Rutgers_University) in 1965, having studied natural sciences, languages, and politics. After receiving a Ph.D. in 1973 from [Claremont University Center](/source/Claremont_Graduate_University), Codevilla began to teach political science.[{{cite book |chapter=Maria Angelo Codevilla |title=Contemporary Authors Online |location=Detroit |publisher=[Gale](/source/Gale_(publisher)) |date=April 23, 2009 |series=Biography in Context |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CH1000019089&source=Bookmark&u=fairfax_main&jsid=1c3eecfae785ae12e95c649b383dc4a1 |id=GALE|H1000019089}}]
==Career==
In 1977, Codevilla joined the [U.S. Foreign Service](/source/United_States_Foreign_Service) but quickly transitioned to [Capitol Hill](/source/Capitol_Hill), where he served on the staff of the [U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence](/source/United_States_Senate_Select_Committee_on_Intelligence) as an aide to [Senator](/source/United_States_Senate) [Malcolm Wallop](/source/Malcolm_Wallop), a position he would hold until 1985. During this time, he also began teaching political philosophy at [Georgetown University](/source/Georgetown_University).
By 1980, Codevilla was appointed to the teams preparing the presidential transition for the [United States Department of State](/source/United_States_Department_of_State) and the [Central Intelligence Agency](/source/Central_Intelligence_Agency).[{{cite web |title=James Madison Program |publisher=[Princeton University](/source/Princeton_University) |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/people/archives/fellows0304.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527081520/http://web.princeton.edu/sites/jmadison/people/archives/fellows0304.html |archive-date=May 27, 2014 |url-status=dead }}][{{cite web |title=Contributor Biography |publisher=[Hoover Press](/source/Hoover_Institution) |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=http://www.hooverpress.org/bioPopUp/contributorbiography.cfm?ContribID=182}}][{{cite news |newspaper=[Commentary](/source/Commentary_(magazine)) |title=While Others Build: The Common-Sense Approach to the Strategic Defense Initiative, by Angelo Codevilla (Anti-Missile Defense) |date=July 1, 1988 |author-link=Stephen Peter Rosen |first=Stephen |last=Rosen}}
Book review of While Others Build: The Common-sense Approach to the Strategic Defense Initiative.] His contributions to national security included helping to conceive the technology programs that, in 1983, were relabeled the [Strategic Defense Initiative](/source/Strategic_Defense_Initiative). Throughout his time in government, Codevilla published on intelligence and national security and taught.
In 1985 Codevilla returned to full-time academic life as a senior research fellow at the [Hoover Institution](/source/Hoover_Institution), [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University). He was professor of international relations at what is now the [Pardee School of Global Studies](/source/Pardee_School_of_Global_Studies) at [Boston University](/source/Boston_University) from 1995 to 2008.
==Political and social views==
Codevilla held conservative views, advocating non-interference by government in public life.[[https://www.independent.org/article/2010/07/15/americas-ruling-classand-the-perils-of-revolution/ America’s Ruling Class—And the Perils of Revolution]]
==Pollard case==
While acknowledging that [Jonathan Pollard](/source/Jonathan_Pollard) was guilty of espionage, Codevilla was one of many who publicly objected on procedural and substantive grounds to the life sentence given the convicted [Israel](/source/Israel)i spy. In 1984, Pollard had sold numerous closely guarded state secrets, including the [National Security Agency](/source/National_Security_Agency)'s ten-volume manual on how the U.S. gathers its signal intelligence, and disclosed the names of thousands of people who had cooperated with U.S. intelligence agencies.[{{cite magazine|last=Hersh|first=Seymour|title=The Traitor|magazine=[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)|date=January 18, 1999|pages=26–33|url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/1999/01/18/1999_01_18_026_TNY_LIBRY_000017310 |access-date=December 26, 2012}}] He admitted shopping his services—successfully, in some cases—to other countries.[{{cite book|last=Olive|first=Ronald J.|year=2006|title=[Capturing Jonathan Pollard: How One of the Most Notorious Spies in American History Was Brought to Justice](/source/Capturing_Jonathan_Pollard)|publisher=[Naval Institute Press](/source/United_States_Naval_Institute)|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=978-1-59114-652-0|pages=77–78}}] In 1987, he was sentenced to life in prison for violations of the [Espionage Act](/source/Espionage_Act_of_1917). He was released on November 20, 2015, and moved to Israel.
On November 5, 2013, Codevilla wrote to then-President [Barack Obama](/source/Barack_Obama) concerning Pollard. He stated, "Others have pointed out that Pollard is the only person ever sentenced to life imprisonment for passing information to an ally, without intent to harm America, a crime which normally carries a sentence of two to four years; and that this disproportionate sentence in violation of a plea agreement was based ''not on the indictment'' but on a memorandum that was never shared with the defense. This is not how American Justice is supposed to work." He further stated that his opinion, as those of [DCI](/source/Director_of_Central_Intelligence) [James Woolsey](/source/James_Woolsey), former [Attorney general](/source/Attorney_general) [Michael Mukasey](/source/Michael_Mukasey), and former Senator [Dennis DeConcini](/source/Dennis_DeConcini), is based on a thorough knowledge of the case. Codevilla concluded, "having been intimately acquainted with the materials that Pollard passed and with the 'sources and methods' by which they were gathered, I would be willing to give expert testimony that Pollard is guilty of neither more nor less than what the indictment alleges."
In a contemporaneous interview with ''[The Weekly Standard](/source/The_Weekly_Standard)'', Codevilla said that, "The story of the Pollard case is a blot on American justice", and that the life sentence "makes you ashamed to be an American."[{{cite web |title=Letter from Codevilla to President Barack Obama |date=November 5, 2013 |url=https://www.jonathanpollard.org/2013/110513.jpg}}][{{cite web |url=http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/pollard-defenders-vindicated/ |title=Pollard Defenders Vindicated |date=December 20, 2012 }}][{{cite magazine |title=Pollard Defenders Vindicated: After 25 years, the CIA has declassified documents that show Jonathan Pollard never spied on the U.S. for Israel |first=Lee |last=Smith |date=December 20, 2012 |url=http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/119711/pollard-defenders-vindicated |magazine=[Tablet](/source/Tablet_(magazine))}}][{{cite news |date=January 11, 1999 |newspaper=The Washington Weekly |first=Wesley |last=Phelan |title=The True Motives Behind the Sentencing of Jonathan Pollard - An Interview with Angelo Codevilla - Special Feature |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=https://www.jonathanpollard.org/2000/071700a.htm}} republished July 17, 2000, at Jonathan Pollard website][{{cite news |date=January 2, 1999 |page=A19 |newspaper=The Washington Post |author-link1=Angelo Codevilla |first1=Angelo |last1=Codevilla |author-link2=Irwin Cotler |first2=Irwin |last2=Cotler |author-link3=Alan Dershowitz |first3=Alan |last3=Dershowitz |first4=Kenneth |last4=Lasson |title=The True Motives Behind the Sentencing of Jonathan Pollard - An Interview with Angelo Codevilla - Special Feature |access-date=July 5, 2014 |url=https://www.jonathanpollard.org/1999/010299.htm}} republished at Jonathan Pollard website]
==Personal life and death==
Codevilla married Ann Marie Blaesser on December 31, 1966. His children are David, Peter, Michael, Elizabeth, and Thomas. He served in the [United States Navy Reserve](/source/United_States_Navy_Reserve) 1969–1971, leaving active duty as a [lieutenant, junior grade](/source/Lieutenant_(junior_grade)). He received the [Joint Service Commendation Medal](/source/Commendation_Medal).