A station chief is a government official who is the head of a team, post or function usually in a foreign country. Historically it commonly referred to the head of a defensible structure such as an

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or s ...

's residence or colonial outpost. In Germany a (station leader) was the government's chief representative in a colonial possession like

South Sea Islands Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

. It may also be used to refer to the manager of remote scientific stations such as those in the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and othe ...

and

Jarvis Island Jarvis Island (; formerly known as Bunker Island or Bunker's Shoal) is an uninhabited coral island located in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands. It is an unincorporated, unorganized territory of the Un ...

, an uninhabited minor U.S. Pacific island. However, in modern times, this designation is usually used for a senior official of a certain country's

Intelligence agency An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of inf ...

, stationed in a foreign country who manages all espionage operations in that country.

CIA

The Station Chief, also called Chief of Station, is the top U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

official stationed in a foreign country who manages all CIA operations in that country, equivalent to a KGB Rezident. The station chief is often a senior U.S. intelligence officer who represents the

Office of the Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Comm ...

(ODNI) in his or her respective foreign government, whose name may ("declared status") or may not ("undeclared status") be officially revealed to the host nation and other intelligence agencies. Former officers are not usually allowed to include their positions as station chiefs in their résumés even after their covers have been lifted. Other CIA offices in foreign countries, usually performing logistics and other support functions and subordinate to the Station, are known as Bases and are headed by Chiefs of Base.

References

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CIA

See also

References