Leslie Chant Dirks (Rhodes 1959)
Communications and electronics company executive. Rhodes Scholar, University of Oxford.
Member National Academy Engineering, National Research Council (member Army-Space committee since 1986).[2]
1990 - Married Janet Church.[3]
1987 - Wife, Eleanor, lost battle with cancer.[3]
1984 to 1990 - Vice President of Space and Communications Group at Hughes Aircraft Co. (aka Hughes Aircraft Communications Satellite Organzation, headed at the time by his distighuished predecessor in the CIA, Dr. Albert C. Wheelon.[3] [4, NY Times … ‘Architect of Aerial Spying, U-2, Lockheed A-12, SR71, Generations of the Corona Reconnaissance satellites, which dropped film cannisters that were then snapped up in midflight by aircraft. Pictures of objects 5 inches across sent to earth almost instantly. In a 1967 speech that he asked not be quoted, President Lyndon B. Johnson hailed the Corona program as being worth 10 times the $35 billion to $40 billion the United States had by then spent on its entire space program. He said data from spy satellites had proved that the Soviet Union was weaker than suspected. His father, Albert Dewell Wheelon worked at Douglas Aircraft during WW2 and worked for TRW (acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002) on missile guidance systems.’].
1982 to 1984 - Corporate Vice President of Research and Development at Raytheon Corp.
1980 - Elected to the National Academy of Engineering (age 44)[3]
1980 - Retired from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[3]
1979 - Recipient National Security Medal President United States by President Jimmy Carter (Gridiron Secret Society. Trilateral Commission).[2][3]
1976 to 1982 - Deputy Director of Science and Technology, Program B, National Reconnaissance Office headed by Hans Mark.[3] Two or three people who were his equal. His highly original technical innovations to our intelligence-gathering satellites contributed substantially to our national security … In spite of the highly classified nature of his work, he received a good deal of public recognition for his many accomplishments.[3]
23 Apr 1973 to 3 May 1976 - Founded and first director of DS&T’s Office of Development and Engineering.[5]
1971 to 1974 - Director, Office of Special Projects, DS&T, Central Intelligence Agency.[5]
1963 to 1966 - Chief of the DS&T Plans and Polict Staff, before becoming staff chief in the Office of Special Projects, with responsibilities for systems analysis and design of intelligence collection systems and for liaison with intergovernmental technical panels.[5]
From Aug 1961 - Physical Science Intelligence Officer, Office of Scientific Intelligence, Anti-Ballistic Missile Branch, Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T’s), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).[5][3] He was quickly recognized as an extraordinary scientist-engineer and a talented leader.[3]
1 Year - Taught physics, Phillips Academy.*
1959 to ? - Rhodes Scholar, New College, University of Oxford.[1] Worked part-time as a mathematics instructor for the University of Maryland Overseas Program, England, while attending Oxford University.[6]
1956 to 1958 - While a student at MIT, worked as a researcher and analyst for Raytheon Mfg, Ewen Knight Corp., and Edgerton, Germes and Grier.[6]
Graduated Massachusetts Institute of Technoogy.[3]
Died 7 Aug 2001, from Not Known. Age 64.
[2] - Prabook.com - Leslie Chant Dirks (Rhodes 1959)
[3] - The National Academies of Sciences Engineerng Medicine - Biography by Hans Mark
[4] - Albert D. Wheelon, Architect of Aerial Spying, Dies at 84 By Douglas Martin (Oct. 2, 2013)
[5] - Leaders of the NRO Vol I
[7] - EXECUTIVE CHANGES (July 13, 1982) ‘ Raytheon Co., Lexington, Mass., named Leslie C. Dirks vice president for research and development.
[9] - VIDEO - HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY SYNCOM, WESTAR, SBS & ANIK-C SATELLITE SYSTEMS 50444b
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