Francis R. Dillon (November 3, 1939 – July 5, 2023) was a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

( Special Agent) who served as the 11th Commander of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI),

Bolling AFB Bolling Air Force Base or Bolling AFB was a United States Air Force base in Washington, D.C. In 2010, it was merged with Naval Support Facility Anacostia to form Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling. From its beginning, the installation has hosted elem ...

, Washington, D.C. As the AFOSI Commander, Dillon was responsible for providing commanders of all Air Force activities independent professional investigative services regarding

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

, counterintelligence and major criminal matters by using a worldwide network of agents stationed at all major Air Force installations and a variety of special operating locations.

Education

Through the Reserve Officer Training Corps, Dillon earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

. Dillon also has a master's degree from

Troy State University Troy University is a public university in Troy, Alabama. It was founded in 1887 as Troy State Normal School within the Alabama State University System, and is now the flagship university of the Troy University System. Troy University is accredi ...

. He also completed courses at

Squadron Officer School Squadron Officer School (SOS), is a 5.5-week-long Professional Military Education (PME) course for U.S. Air Force and Space Force Captains, Department of the Air Force Civilian (DAFC) equivalents and International Officers. It fulfills the U.S ...

Air Command and Staff College The Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and is the United States Air Force's intermediate-level Professional Military Education (PME) school. It is a subordinate command of the Air Uni ...

, Air War College, and the

Defense Language Institute The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other f ...

Military career

Upon graduation from the University of Connecticut, Dillon commissioned into the

in 1968. He spent the majority of his career as a special agent of the

AFOSI The Department of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) is a U.S. federal law enforcement agency that reports directly to the Secretary of the Air Force. OSI is also a U.S. Air Force field operating agency under the administrative ...

, where he conducted and supervised felony-level criminal,

, and counterintelligence investigations and operations. He commanded at the detachment, squadron and wing levels. His assignments included two overseas postings, which were

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, Germany. Additionally, Dillon served as an assistant professor of aerospace studies with the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

, New Brunswick, N.J. Prior to his last assignment as Commander of AFOSI, Dillon served as the Vice Commander of AFOSI. As Commander of AFOSI, Dillon was interviewed by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' about an Air Force captain allegedly spying for U.S. adversaries in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, Germany. When asked by reporters to clarify if an investigation was ongoing, Dillon told reporters, "This was very premature, this should have never been leaked out."

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simpl ...

officials also described previous news reports on the matter, as premature and misleading; however, an Air Force spokesperson emphasized a "full and thorough investigation" of the matter was under way.

Post-military

After retiring, Dillon published a book, served on local community boards, and lobbied members of the U.S. Congress to name a few. For instance, Dillon published ''Vacationland Terrorists: Alarm in the Countryside'' in 2014. Additionally, he served on the Bath Housing Authority Board of Directors with a term that expired in 2021. Dillon, along with several other retired military generals, supported the "2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act" and urged members of Congress to refrain from pursuing any mechanism that would weaken or delay its standards. Dillon died on July 5, 2023, at the age of 83.

Major awards and decorations

Dillon was the recipient of the following:

References

Notes