# Stephen Kappes
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{{Short description|Deputy Director of the CIA (born 1951)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Kappes.jpeg
| caption = Official portrait, 2010
| office = 2nd [Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency](/source/Deputy_Director_of_the_Central_Intelligence_Agency)
| president = [George W. Bush](/source/George_W._Bush)
[Barack Obama](/source/Barack_Obama)
| term_start = January 29, 2006
| term_end = May 5, 2010
| predecessor = [Albert Calland](/source/Albert_Calland)
| successor = [Michael Morell](/source/Michael_Morell)
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|8|22}}
| birth_place = [Cincinnati](/source/Cincinnati), [Ohio](/source/Ohio)
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater = [Ohio University](/source/Ohio_University)
[Ohio State University](/source/Ohio_State_University)
| profession = [Intelligence officer](/source/Intelligence_officer)
}}
'''Stephen R. Kappes''' (born August 22, 1951) was the [Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency](/source/Deputy_Director_of_the_Central_Intelligence_Agency) (DDCIA), until his resignation on April 14, 2010.[{{cite web|author=Jeff Stein|url=https://washingtonian.com/2010/03/25/inside-man/|title=Inside Man |publisher=Washingtonian Magazine |date=March 25, 2010 |access-date=November 23, 2010}}][{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/17/a-shadow-warrior-falls/ |title=TIMMERMAN: A shadow warrior falls |work=Washington Times |date=April 17, 2010 |accessdate=August 21, 2010}}] He had served in the CIA since 1981, with a two-year hiatus. A career clandestine operations professional, Kappes supervised the [extraordinary rendition](/source/extraordinary_rendition) program, a non-judicial system of rendering persons suspected of terrorism to secret locations where most of them were [interrogated](/source/interrogated).[{{cite web|author=Scott Horton|url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/03/hbc-90006806|title=Steve Kappes, Profiled |publisher=HARPER'S Magazine |date=March 31, 2010 |accessdate=November 23, 2010}}][{{cite web|url=https://washingtonian.com/2010/03/25/inside-man/ |title=Inside Man – News & Features |date=March 25, 2010 |publisher=washingtonian.com |access-date=August 21, 2010}}] Kappes also helped persuade [Libya](/source/Libya)n leader [Muammar al-Gaddafi](/source/Muammar_al-Gaddafi) to [abandon his nuclear weapons program](/source/Disarmament_of_Libya) in 2003.[[Mayer, Jane](/source/Jane_Mayer) (2009), "The Secret History", ''[The New Yorker](/source/The_New_Yorker)'', June 22, 2009, pg 54.] In 2009, Kappes was convicted ''in absentia'' by an Italian court for his headquarters-based role in the [rendition](/source/rendition_(law)) and [torture](/source/torture) of an Egyptian citizen who was [kidnapped](/source/kidnapping) from Italian soil by the CIA.
==Education and military service==
Kappes earned a Bachelor of Science degree in [pre-medicine](/source/pre-medicine) from [Ohio University](/source/Ohio_University) and a [Master of Science](/source/Master_of_Science) degree in [pathology](/source/pathology) from [Ohio State University](/source/Ohio_State_University). He served as an officer in the [U.S. Marine Corps](/source/United_States_Marine_Corps) from 1976 to 1981.
==CIA career (1981–2004)==
Kappes joined the [Central Intelligence Agency](/source/Central_Intelligence_Agency) in 1981 and held a variety of operational assignments in Europe and the Middle East and managerial positions at CIA Headquarters. Kappes has been [station chief](/source/station_chief) in [New Delhi](/source/New_Delhi), [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt), [Kuwait City](/source/Kuwait_City) and [Moscow](/source/Moscow) from 1996 to 1999. He also served in [Pakistan](/source/Pakistan).[Mayer, ''Op. cit.''] Kappes served as Chief of the Near East and South Asia Division from 1999 to 2000. Kappes served as Associate Deputy Director of Operations for Counterintelligence from 2000 to 2002, then as associate deputy director (ADDO) under [Deputy Director for Operations](/source/Deputy_Director_for_Operations) (DDO) [James Pavitt](/source/James_Pavitt) till 2004.
===Libya negotiations===
Towards the end of his tenure with the CIA, he worked with President George W. Bush in negotiations with [Libya](/source/Libya) that ended that country's weapons-of-mass-destruction (WMD) programs. In a joint diplomatic mission with the United Kingdom's [MI6](/source/MI6) head of counter terrorism Sir [Mark Allen](/source/Mark_Allen_(businessman)), the pair engaged with Libya's secret service head (Moussa Koussa, who later defected to the UK), which resulted in an end of support for terrorist activity by [Colonel](/source/Colonel) [Muammar al-Gaddafi](/source/Muammar_al-Gaddafi)’s [Libya](/source/Libya), and a resultant end of international sanctions against Libya.{{cn|date=August 2020}}
===Deputy Director of Operations===
Kappes was named [Deputy Director for Operations](/source/Deputy_Director_for_Operations) (DDO) for the CIA in June 2004 and took office in August 2004 while the appointment of [Porter Goss](/source/Porter_Goss) as the next Director of Central Intelligence was still pending in the Senate. Kappes succeeded [James Pavitt](/source/James_Pavitt), who resigned in June 2004. Both Kappes and Pavitt (and others) oversaw the CIA's Directorate for Operations during the controversial [Iraq WMD](/source/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction) reporting. He served in that position until he resigned in November 2004. [John E. McLaughlin](/source/John_E._McLaughlin), the then-Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, announced his departure the same week Kappes quit, thus exacerbating the rumored management problems for Goss.
===Dramatic departure in 2004===
It had been widely reported in the press that Kappes quit rather than carry out a request by Goss to reassign [Michael Sulick](/source/Michael_Sulick), his then deputy.[Mark Mazzetti, 'A Storied Operative Returns to the C.I.A.', [New York Times](/source/New_York_Times), May 30, 2006 [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/washington/30cia.html?ex=1306641600&en=76bb4ca7c6cf1690&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss]] It is also reported that this incident occurred because Goss's chief of staff admonished the then assistant Deputy Director for Counterintelligence, [Mary Margaret Graham](/source/Mary_Margaret_Graham) – who later worked for the [Director of National Intelligence](/source/Director_of_National_Intelligence) (DNI) [John Negroponte](/source/John_Negroponte) – about leaking personnel information.[{{cite web |author= |url=http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/01/05/1732576.aspx |title=First Read – Even more on the Panetta pick |publisher=[MSNBC](/source/MSNBC) |date=January 5, 2009 |access-date=August 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418000309/http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/01/05/1732576.aspx |archive-date=April 18, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}] Instead, [Leon Panetta](/source/Leon_Panetta) was appointed to the position in February 2009, and Kappes was retained as DDCIA, the latter a condition set by Feinstein in exchange for her support for the former.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/message-from-director-panetta.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311030632/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/message-from-director-panetta.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 11, 2009|title=A Message from Director Panetta — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov}}][Mayer, ''Op. ct.'']
===Convicted of [kidnapping](/source/kidnapping), [extraordinary rendition](/source/extraordinary_rendition) and [torture](/source/torture)===
On November 4, 2009, in a landmark ruling, Italian judge Oscar Magi convicted 22 American CIA operatives of kidnapping Muslim cleric [Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr](/source/Osama_Moustafa_Hassan_Nasr), known as Abu Omar, from the streets of Milan in 2003. Most of the top CIA officers had left the agency, with the exception of Kappes, who at the time was the assistant director of the CIA's clandestine branch.[{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/europe/05italy.html?_r=1 | work=The New York Times | title=Italy Convicts 23 Americans for C.I.A. Renditions | first=Rachel | last=Donadio | date=November 5, 2009}}]
===Role in hiding detainee death===
Per official reports, Kappes was responsible for the alteration of records regarding the death of a detainee at the 'Salt Pit', a secret CIA interrogation operation in Afghanistan. A detainee froze to death, after having been showered with water and left outside overnight. Kappes made certain that the death was retained 'off the books'. According to two former officials who read a CIA inspector general's report on the incident, Kappes coached the base chief—whose identity was withheld at the request of the CIA—on how to respond to the agency's investigators. They would report it as an accident.[{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/01/steve-kappes-detainee-deaths_n_521615.html |title=Steve Kappes, CIA Deputy Director, Helped Cover Up Detainee Death, Washingtonian Reports |work=Huffington Post |accessdate=August 21, 2010 |first=Marcus |last=Baram |date=April 1, 2010}}]
===Sudden retirement, no explanation===
On April 14, 2010, CIA director [Leon Panetta](/source/Leon_Panetta) reported that Kappes would be retiring in May.[{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/panetta-left-to-fend-for-himself-with-top-cia-deputy-heading-for-the-door/ |title=Panetta Left to Fend for Himself With Top CIA Deputy Heading for the Door |publisher=Fox News |date=April 15, 2010 |access-date=August 21, 2010}}] The odd timing of the retirement, and lack of Presidential thanks for his years of service, led some to comment that this was a departure in disgrace.