Thomas Ray Wilson (born 4 March 1946) is a retired

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

vice admiral. He previously served as

Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency The Director of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency is a military officer who, upon nomination by the President of the United States and confirmation by the Senate, serves as the United States' highest-ranking military intelligence offic ...

from July 1999 to July 2002.

Overview

Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, USN was the 13th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Other flag rank assignments included Director of Intelligence (J2), The Joint Staff; Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support, Central Intelligence Agency; Vice Director of Intelligence, The Joint Staff; and Director of Intelligence, United States Atlantic Command. Following retirement from the Navy in 2002, he served in several senior executive roles for Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK): President of ATK Missile Systems, Corporate Senior Vice President and President of ATK Precision Systems Group, and ATK Senior Vice President for Tidewater Operations, retiring from ATK in 2009. Vice Admiral Wilson and his wife, Ann, have three sons: Jeffrey, Gregory, and Matthew.

Early life

Thomas Ray Wilson was born on 4 March 1946 in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in the small community of

Groveport, Ohio Groveport is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Columbus. The population was 6,009 at the 2020 census. Groveport was the hometown of John Solomon Rarey, a 19th-century horse whisperer, and developer of the Rare ...

. As a youth he spent much time working on family farms, acquiring a lifelong interest in agriculture and rural life in America. He graduated from

Groveport Madison High School Groveport-Madison High School is a high school in Groveport, Ohio, United States. The school's mascot is the Cruiser, a horse tamed by John Solomon Rarey. Cruiser Football The current coach for the 2021-2022 season is Mitch Westcamp. Eastl ...

in 1964, where he was active in sports, band, and other school activities as well as the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

and the Groveport Methodist Church.

Education and training

Wilson entered

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1964, and in 1968 graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

with concentrations in agricultural economics and

rural sociology Rural sociology is a field of sociology traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas. It is an active academic field in much of the world, originating in the United States in the 1910s with close ties ...

. He entered Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, in October 1968 and was commissioned an Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve in March 1969. Wilson was a distinguished graduate of the Defense Intelligence College in 1975, and was a member of the Defense Intelligence College class that participated in the pilot program leading to the college being able to grant a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence Degree. Other Military training included Communications Officer Ashore Course at Newport, RI in 1969; Targeting and mission planning at Nuclear Weapons Training Group Atlantic, in Norfolk, VA in 1980; and Flag and General Officer CAPSTONE Training in 1995. In 1978, while stationed in Keflavik, Iceland, he earned an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in management and human relations from

Webster University Webster University is a private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, Missouri. It has multiple branch locations across the United States and countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. It offers undergraduate and graduate program ...

Awards, decorations and badges

Admiral Wilson has received the

Defense Distinguished Service Medal The Defense Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members for exceptionally distinguished performance of duty contributing to the ...

(three awards), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (two awards),

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: * Meritorious Civilian Service Award *Meritorious Service Me ...

(two awards),

Joint Service Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

(two awards), and

Navy Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

(two awards), the

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four ...

with Bronze Star,

Global War on Terrorism Service Medal The Global War on Terrorism Service Medal (GWOT-SM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was created through Executive Order 13289 on 12 March 2003, by President George W. Bush. The medal recognizes those military service ...

Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon A Sea Service Ribbon is an award of the United States Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Army, and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps which recognizes those service members who have performed military duty while stationed on a Un ...

(four awards), and

Navy Overseas Service Ribbon An Overseas Service Ribbon is a service military award of the United States military which recognizes those service members who have performed military tours outside the borders of the United States of America. There are different versions of the ...

(four awards). Unit awards include the

Joint Meritorious Unit Award The Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA) is a US military award that was established on June 4, 1981, by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and was implemented by Department of Defense Directive 1348.27 dated July 22, 1982. The Joint Meritor ...

with Oak Leaf Cluster and

Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

with two Bronze Stars. Authorized badges include the Atlantic Command Badge, The Joint Staff Identification Badge, and the Defense Intelligence Agency Badge. Vice Admiral Wilson has received the following awards from foreign countries: Republic of China (Taiwan) Service Ribbon, Czech Republic Order of the White Lion, and the

Royal Norwegian Order of Merit The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Norwegian: ''Den Kongelige Norske Fortjenstorden'' (Bokmål) or ''Den Kongelege Norske Fortenesteordenen'' (Nynorsk)) was instituted by King Olav V in 1985. It is awarded to foreigners, Norwegian citizens livi ...

. Vice Admiral Wilson is also the recipient of the

National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal The National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (NIDSM) is a decoration awarded for service to the United States Intelligence Community. The decoration is awarded to any member or contributor to the National Intelligence Community, either ...

, the Central Intelligence Agency Director’s Award, and the Defense Intelligence Agency Director's Award. In 2001 he received the NAACP’S Meritorious Service Award for his leadership of DIA's nationally recognized Diversity and Equal Opportunity programs.

References

Sources

* DD Form 214 (Wilson, Thomas R ) * U.S. Navy Flag Officer Personnel Files * U.S. Navy Orders

External links

* http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1999-04-15/html/CREC-1999-04-15-pt1-PgS3820-9.htm * http://www.dia.mil/history/directors/vadm-wilson.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20070613001231/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-archive-1997-1/pr103197.html * https://fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/031902wilson.pdf * http://avalon.law.yale.edu/21st_century/t_0032.asp * http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=thomas_wilson * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Thomas R. Living people 1946 births Directors of the Defense Intelligence Agency People from Columbus, Ohio People from Groveport, Ohio Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal