After his brain surgery, performed at Georgetown University Hospital on December 18, 1986, CIA Director William Casey appeared shockingly ill. He was due to appear before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) on December 16, but was rushed to the hospital after a seizure the day before. Casey had lost a significant amount of weight and the prognosis was grim. I was one of the agents assigned to the “hot seat” at the entrance to his hospital room. Late one evening, the nurse requested I and another agent help move him in his bed. As we did, I held his feet and prayed for him.
Over the next month, William Casey began to take a turn for the better. He regained his weight, his hair grew back and he became mentally alert. However, because of the damage done by the tumor in his brain, he could not speak.
Bob Woodward’s Alleged Visit with the Director of the CIA
In the book Veil the Secret Wars of the CIA (page 587, paragraph 7), Bob Woodward writes he was able to enter Casey’s hospital room and have an important conversation with him (late January - early February 1987, although he does not give an exact date). I consider Mr. Woodward a fine journalist and a very nice person. However, I must disagree with this account. Indeed, Mr. Woodward did try to enter the hospital room, but was interdicted by the agent in the hot seat and gracefully shown to the exit. In addition, during the time frame Mr. Woodward claims to have gotten into the room, Casey could not speak due to the effects of the tumor on his brain (I witnessed this personally). None of the agents allowed Mr. Woodward into the room. We were there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. All of us were under orders not to let anyone into the room. Frankly, we all were frustrated by this fabricated account when it was published, because it never happened. One reporter has alleged Woodward told him he had help from someone else to get into the room (perhaps dressed as a doctor - or nurse (kidding about the nurse)). Even if this were true, the account still lacks credibility; Casey was unable to talk, and could only make grunting noises because the tumor had attacked the language part of his brain. We were with him daily, took him for his medical tests, etc., saw the damage to his brain and heard his attempts at speaking.
The lack of detail in Woodward’s account just reinforces this incident never happened. Regarding Robert Gates’ later statement that Casey could still form words during his discussions - the time frame of Woodard’s “visit” occurs after Gates’ visits with Casey and the blocking of Woodward’s first attempt to enter the room by the agents. By then, Casey’s condition had deteriorated even worse and he eventually lapsed into a coma.
Just after publication of his book Veil. The Secret Wars of the CIA, Gates paid a visit to Woodward’s residence to get a copy of the book the CIA did not have. Woodward claims during the visit Gates stated “I guess your security is better than ours,” commenting on Woodward’s alleged penetration of Casey’s hospital room. Gates was always a humble, humorous and congenial man, and fiercely loyal to the CIA. I am certain this was simply a graceful attempt to get a copy of the book and perform an intensive personal analysis. At his career core, Gate’s was an analyst. The agents were with Casey day and night, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; many times more than Gates’ occasional visits with the Director. Gates was busy running the CIA and holding back the firestorm of legislative and press demands. On September 29, 2010 Woodward was interviewed on Larry King Live to discuss his new book, Obama Wars. My previous book In From the Cold. CIA Secrecy and Operations, which brought to light the above information, had been published, and was the subject of a Washington Post article. Woodward was forced to respond to the article and stated he could not remember details of the incident. In discussions with the Post reporter, I was called a “peon,” far below any need for Woodward to take the time to respond to my assertions.
However, during the King interview, Woodward completely digressed from the subject of the interview (his book Obama Wars) and made the statement:
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“And there's a fascinating story about Gates' view of the world and sense of humor. In 1987 when I was coming out with the book "Veil" about the secret wars of the CIA during the Reagan era, it was about to come out and the CIA couldn't get a copy.
And Gates called me up. And he said, can we get a copy? We won't leak it to The New York Times. And I said, fine, send somebody by to get it, come by my house. And he said, I'll come myself. And so he came. Walked up on the doorstep. I gave him two or three copies. And he looked at me. And he said, sometime we have to have a talk about security. Because obviously yours is better than ours.” If the account I wrote did not bother him, why did Woodward feel the need to depart from the subject of the interview and justify his old allegations? I’ll let you be the judge.
The Agency conducted an extensive investigation of the incident, interviewing all the agents involved, and reached the conclusion it simply could not have occurred.
It was clear, however, before his illness Casey met with Woodward on several occasions. Casey, who usually had nothing but chagrin for the news media, liked Woodward and granted him several interviews during his tenure as DCI. I’m convinced that it was during those interviews that much of the information in Woodward’s book, which in my view is accurate, was provided to Woodward by Casey himself, on purpose.
The William Casey I knew, and spent more time with than my own family, was an unstoppable patriot with an unbendable love for democracy, America and the CIA. I am convinced Casey knew he was dying and intentionally gave Woodward information he wanted the American public to know before he died. The CIA, of course, energized by its obsession to guard its own power, was outraged by this and hunted for those responsible for providing the information in Woodward’s book. My observations convinced me it came from the CIA Director himself.
On a sunny afternoon, as I took my shift in the “hot seat” outside the DCI’s hospital room, the nurse entered the room and asked Casey if he needed anything. I could hear him trying to put his thoughts into words, which he was unable to do. I heard him making undistinguishable groaning sounds as he tried to express to the nurse what he wanted. She could tell he wanted her to bring someone into his room.
“Sir, do you want me to bring your wife into the room?”
He spoke unintelligibly and motioned to the nurse “No.”
“Would you like me to bring your daughter to your room?”
He loudly made attempts at forming words and again motioned “No.”
“Do you want your son-in-law, Owen?” He again motioned “No.”
“Do you want an agent to come into your room?” He loudly made attempts to speak and gestured, “Yes.”
The nurse came out to me and said, “I think he wants you to come into his room.”
I walked into the hospital room and Casey sat straight up in the bed and stuck his hand out to shake mine.
I grasped his hand and said, “Hello, Sir, how are you doing?”
Casey looked me directly in the eye and squeezed my hand as hard as he could. He could not speak.
It appeared to me he was saying, “See, I am getting strong, I am coming back.”
He motioned for me to sit down in the chair next to his bed.
I sat in the chair and he motioned to me with his hands, giving a facial expression conveying, “Tell me what is going on out there.”
“Sir,” I replied, “I saw the President interviewed on the news yesterday and they asked him if, in the light of Iran Contra, you still have his support. The President responded he is pleased with the job you are doing and you have his full support. Also, last night I saw Jean Kirkpatrick (a close personal friend of Casey’s) on the news as well and they asked her the same question. She responded she considered you a great Director and one of her closest personal friends.”
Casey broke down and began to weep, tears streaming down his face. Before I could say anything more, the nurse came into the room. It was time for another CAT scan. These were always solemn moments. The results were not good.
After this meeting, a fascinating event occurred. Chuck Colson, former White House Counsel and Watergate figure, now an evangelist and head of Prison Fellowship Ministries, was checked into the same hospital and had undergone major surgery for stomach cancer. As a nurse attended to Colson, she mentioned William Casey was in the same hospital and terminally ill. She asked Colson if he would like her to find out if Casey wanted prayer. Colson told the nurse he would. This nurse conveyed Colson’s message to Casey, asking if he would like Colson to pray with him. Casey responded he did. Shortly thereafter, Colson visited Casey in his hospital room and the two prayed together. At the end of his life, William Casey became a Christian. It was an inspiring event. I am sure it was the subject of Sophia Casey’s prayers as she sat alone in the sunlit sitting room in their home. Those of you who are secularists will have to bear with me during this account. I hope I am not offending anyone. I have to accurately describe these events exactly as they happened.
After Colson’s visit, Bill Casey became a changed man. Formerly a gruff man who did not suffer fools lightly and regularly reprimanded the agents, or anyone else for that matter, for even small mistakes, he became a kind, gentle man. During his last days in the hospital, although he could not speak, he went out of this way to attempt to communicate to the agents and nurses how much he appreciated them and what they were doing. Some of the agents were shocked at the change. An agent, and close friend of mine, who accompanied him as he was transported back to his home in New York relayed to me Casey spent his last days requesting by gestures his nurse come into his room and read the Gospels to him as he lay in bed. On May 6, 1987 William Joseph Casey passed away in peace, leaving the legacy of a true American patriot.
William J. Casey, Director of the CIA under President Ronald Reagan.
Reporter Bob Woodward.
Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ).
George Tenet, Director of the CIA under President George Bush.