The C.I.A.’s deputy director for operations has decided to retire after the agency’s head opted not to make him the top intelligence officer in London, according to current and former U.S. officials.
Tom Sylvester, who has served as the deputy director for operations for several years, had been set to be the agency’s top liaison to Britain, America’s most important intelligence partner and the agency’s most prestigious overseas posting.
Mr. Sylvester’s appointment was pulled after Foreign Policy magazine published excepts from a new book, “The Mission,” that included quotes from him.
Mr. Sylvester’s comments, some from an interview he gave in 2024 with the permission of the agency and others from the agency’s own podcast, were not divisive. He was quoted talking about the importance of intelligence sharing with Ukraine beginning in 2014 and the agency’s efforts to cement partnerships with European allies.
But in the excerpt, the author, Tim Weiner, intertwined his own analysis critical of John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, and the Trump administration with quotes from Mr. Sylvester.
“With Ratcliffe in charge at the C.I.A., the MAGA warrior Kash Patel running the F.B.I., the conspiracy theorist Tulsi Gabbard overseeing national intelligence and the Christian nationalist Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon, Trump has created the makings of a national security nightmare,” Mr. Weiner wrote.
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