{{Short description|American politician and diplomat (born 1927)}} {{about|the politician|the Australian cricketer|Donald Gregg (cricketer)}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{use mdy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = Ambassador |name = Donald Gregg |image = |image_size = 200px |alt = |caption = |ambassador_from2 = United States |country2 = South Korea |term_start2 = September 27, 1989<ref name=OfH/> |term_end2 = February 27, 1993<ref name=OfH>Office of the Historian, "[https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/gregg-donald-phinney Donald Phinney Gregg (1927-)]"</ref> |predecessor2 = James R. Lilley |successor2 = James T. Laney |president2 = George H. W. Bush<br>Bill Clinton |birth_name = Donald Phinney Gregg |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1927|12|5}}<ref name=ADST/> |birth_place = Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |profession = Diplomat |spouse = Margaret Curry-Gregg |children = 1 |alma_mater = Williams College (BA) |allegiance = {{flag|United States}} |branch = {{army|United States}} |service_years = 1945-1947 |unit = |battles = }} '''Donald Phinney Gregg''' (born December 5, 1927) is a retired American politician, CIA employee, and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. Gregg worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 31 years, from 1951 to 1982. He was a National Security Council advisor (1979–1982) and National Security Advisor to U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush (1982–1989), United States Ambassador to Korea (1989–1993), and the chairman of the board of The Korea Society (until 2009), where he called for greater engagement with North Korea.
==Background and family life== After graduating from high school, Gregg enlisted in the military in 1945 and received training as a cryptanalyst, but did not finish in time to be posted overseas.<ref name="ADST">{{Cite web |date=3 March 2004 |title=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR DONALD P. GREGG |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Gregg,%20Donald%20P.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718171536/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Gregg,%20Donald%20P.toc.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2024 |access-date=18 July 2024 |website=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}}</ref> He then attended Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, from 1947 to 1951, majoring in philosophy.<ref name=ADST/> Here he was recruited by the CIA.<ref name=ADST/>
Gregg's father was Abel J. Gregg of Washington, the national secretary of boys' work of the Young Men's Christian Association. His wife was Margaret Curry. Their daughter Lucy Steuart Gregg married the writer Christopher Buckley, the son of conservative journalist and author William F. Buckley Jr.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/07/style/c-t-buckley-to-marry-lucy-s-gregg.html "C. T. Buckley to Marry Lucy S. Gregg" (limited no-charge access)], ''The New York Times'', October 7, 1984. Retrieved 2011-12-19.</ref><ref>Colacello, Bob, [http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/buckleys200901 "Mr. and Mrs. Right"], ''Vanity Fair'', January, 2009. Headline refers to Buckley's parents. Retrieved 2011-12-19.</ref> His nephew is podcasting pioneer and former MTV VJ Adam Curry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://radio-weblogs.com/0001014/2003/07/19.html |title=Adam Curry's Weblog |publisher=Radio-weblogs.com |date=2003-07-19 |access-date=2013-09-20}}</ref>
==Career== Gregg joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1951. He served in Japan from 1964 to 1973. Gregg served as CIA station chief in South Korea from 1973 to 1975, an assignment he personally requested.<ref name=ADST/> During this time Gregg's personal complaint to the head of the presidential protective force about the Korean National Intelligence Service's involvement in the death by torture of a dissident U.S.-trained professor led to its chief, Lee Hu-rak, being replaced, and his successor enacting a prohibition on torture.<ref name=ADST/> Gregg, noting that his boss, Ted Shackley, had warned him against such interference, later described this as "one of the best things I did as a CIA officer".<ref name=ADST/>
From 1975 to 1980, Gregg served at the CIA's headquarters and in Washington, D.C.; his responsibilities included responding to the "Pike Committee" investigating the CIA.<ref name=ADST/> In 1979 Gregg, his career in the CIA stalled by Stansfield Turner's new regime, took a post in the United States National Security Council (NSC) as Asia policy and intelligence matters specialist. He remained there during the transition from the Carter administration to the Reagan administration, and became Director of the NSC's Intelligence Directorate in 1981. He was appointed National Security Advisor to Vice President George H. W. Bush in August 1982, resigning from the CIA at this time. He remained National Security Advisor for the remainder of the Reagan administration.<ref name=ADST/><ref name=Walsh>Walsh, Lawrence E., [http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_29.htm Chapter 29 "Donald P. Gregg"], Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, Vol. 1, August 4, 1993 (Washington, D.C., United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.) Report via Federation of American Scientists' website ''fas.org''.</ref>
In 1989, Japan expert and lobbyist Craig J. Spence was linked to a White House guard who allowed him to take late-night White House tours with guests that included callboys. Spence suggested that these "midnight tours" were arranged by "top level" persons, implicating Gregg. Gregg denied the allegations, calling them "absolute bull."<ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |title=Craig Spence, Figure in D.C. Sex Case, Found Dead in Boston |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/11/12/craig-spence-figure-in-dc-sex-case-found-dead-in-boston/c8993a55-6895-488f-8adf-19cb45c0fb6b/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=1989-11-12 |access-date=2025-08-20}}</ref> Henry Vinson, the convicted operator of a DC-area gay escort service, has confirmed that Gregg solicited male escorts with his government-issued MasterCard during his time as NSC advisor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vinson |first=Henry W. |title=Confessions of a D.C. Madam: The Politics of Sex, Lies, and Blackmail |page=106 |publisher=Trine Day |date=2015 |isbn=978-1-937584-29-0}}</ref>
==Maxwell School at Syracuse University== Gregg, while at the Korea Society during President George W. Bush's administration, helped establish a program "of bringing North Koreans for information technology training and other issues" to Maxwell.<ref>[http://guamdiary.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/donald-greggs-pet-project-at-syracuses-maxwell-school-pays-dividends/#comment-42 "Donald Gregg’s pet project at Syracuse’s Maxwell School pays dividends"], ''guamdiary'' blog, March 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-23.</ref> Following a North Korean nuclear agreement with the United States in February 2012, North Korea's vice foreign minister and envoy to nuclear disarmament negotiations Ri Yong Ho reportedly planned to attend a forum at Maxwell.<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-03-01/north-korea-nuclear/53312350/1 "AP: Senior North Korea nuke envoy heading to N.Y."], via ''USA Today'', March 1, 2012 2:07 update. Retrieved 2012-04-23.</ref><ref>Lee, Jean H., [https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2012/03/02/north-korean-official-attend-unofficial-nuclear-talks/pYRzxuEr6GQUyRhCAnO4GJ/story.html "North Korean official to attend unofficial nuclear talks in US"], AP via ''Boston Globe'', March 2, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-23.</ref> Gregg also appeared on PBS News Hour to discuss the agreement with Balbina Hwang, visiting professor at Georgetown University and a Korea specialist at the State Department during the last Bush administration.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120301181359/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world/jan-june12/nkorea2_02-29.html "North Korea's Nuclear Attitude: What's Next?"], interview with Judy Woodruff, February 29, 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-23.</ref>
In September 2009, Gregg retired to the role of chairman emeritus of The Korea Society and was replaced as chairman by Thomas C. Hubbard. In 2014, Gregg published ''Pot Shards: Fragments of a Life Lived in CIA, the White House, and the Two Koreas'' {{ISBN|978-0990447115}}, a memoir.
==Awards== * National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal<ref name=ACFR>American Committees on Foreign Relations, [http://www.acfr.org/bios/BDA-Gregg%20Donald.pdf Donald P. Gregg] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211103912/http://www.acfr.org/bios/BDA-Gregg%20Donald.pdf |date=December 11, 2009 }}</ref> * Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service<ref name=ACFR/> * Honorary PhD in international relations from Sogang University<ref name=ACFR/> * Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service (2001)<ref>Simon Moss, ''Cornell Chronicle'', 31 March 2004, [https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2004/03/former-us-ambassador-korea-will-give-bartels-lecture-april-12 Former U.S. ambassador to Korea will give Bartels Lecture at Cornell, April 12]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{C-SPAN|7289}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090124220636/http://asiasource.org/news/special_reports/gregginterview.cfm Interview with AsiaSource], January 22, 2006. *[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/interviews/gregg.html ''Frontline'' interview], PBS, February 20, 2003. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060112091317/http://www.koreasociety.org/FYI/20030204-DPG-Senate-Foreign-Relations.html Transcript of testimony before the Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate], February 4, 2003. *[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec97/skorea_12-19.html PBS NewsHour interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024170820/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec97/skorea_12-19.html |date=October 24, 2013 }}, PBS, December 19, 1997. * {{Charlie Rose view|2069}}: July 5, 2006 (26 m.); January 6, 2003 (10 m.).
{{US Ambassadors to Korea}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregg, Donald}} Category:1927 births Category:Ambassadors of the United States to South Korea Category:Buckley family Category:Living people Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:Williams College alumni Category:Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs