One-on-One with Jim Olson: LEAP Students Dive into the World of Counterintelligence

By Quinn Kobrin

In a continuation of the LEAP Center’s Facebook one-on-one series, Professor Yawn interviewed Professor Jim Olson about his life during and after his career as a CIA case officer. This having been my first time hearing Mr. Olson speak, I was astounded at how little I knew about the world of counterintelligence.

Olson began the conversation with a definition of counterintelligence. He explained that its purpose is to protect the United States from other nations who may try to steal our secrets and technology. Much to my surprise, he told us that there are approximately 80 countries spying on us right now.

The conversation then turned to Olson’s 31-year career in the Clandestine Service. He was asked about his cover identity, which he could not share in great detail, but he explained that when he was in another nation, he would often have a cover as a U.S. diplomat, so he would have diplomatic immunity if he got into trouble. Sometimes, however, he was in other countries without working as a diplomat, and therefore would be subject to that country’s justice system if he were caught.

He shared that he and his wife – also a case officer within the CIA – never anticipated to come out from their cover identities, because doing so posed a threat to themselves and to their family. However, he was approached by President George H.W. Bush and George Tenet (former Director Central Intelligence) to work at the Bush School of Public Service. Olson was excited for the opportunity, but there is a CIA policy that does not allow officers to go onto college campuses covertly (which was news to me). So, he was forced to give up his cover.

In a similar vein, he was asked about how he and his wife broke the news to their children that they were officers in the CIA, and how they took it. Apparently, when he was stationed in Vienna, terrorists managed to get ahold of his address and sent him a death threat. They decided to tell their oldest son, who was sixteen at the time, and asked him to look after his siblings. As each of their children learned, he said, they took the information in with a sense of pride. He told us that each of his children has now gone on to pursue a career in the service of others.

Next he discussed CIA recruitment methods. We learned that the CIA seeks out a variety of candidates who may be cut out for a career as a case officer. Mainly, they are looking for character; they want recruits who are reliable and trustworthy.

To prepare for a career in the Clandestine Service (one of the most commonly asked questions of the event) Olson said that a bachelor’s degree usually would not be enough, and that students should aim to get a graduate degree of some kind. He suggested learning new languages, taking on roles of leadership, and working in positions that might allow you to travel abroad.

On the subject of character, he spoke briefly about some former CIA officers who betrayed the United States. He spoke vehemently about his former colleague Aldrich “Rick” Ames, who he considers the worst traitor to the country for turning over to the KGB. He explained that Ames had identified Russians who were working for the CIA to the KGB, which led to their imprisonment or execution.

To wrap up the session, we asked Olson what he wanted people to know about the CIA. He explained that CIA case officers are public servants. They do not do what they do for money, power, prestige, or status. They do what they do with honorable intentions.

It was a great experience to hear Mr. Olson speak live, and I look forward to reading his book, To Catch a Spy: The Art of Counterintelligence!

Eisenhower on Eisenhower: Susan Eisenhower Discusses Her Grandfather’s Life and Leadership

Despite all of the challenges of COVID-19, the Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics continues to provide engaging and interesting learning opportunities for students. Most recently, students were able to watch a Facebook live interview with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s granddaughter, Susan Eisenhower, where she discussed her grandfather’s leadership in World War II and as president. Author of the biography How Ike Led, she had much to share about his life and overall legacy.

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The interview began with a look at President Eisenhower’s role in D-Day,

liberating Europe from Nazi rule, and his handling of the discovery of concentration camps. It was explained that Eisenhower opted for a broad, slow advance to defeat the Nazi empire, rather than a fast and hasty one. He wanted to bring an end to the regime, and prevent it from rising to power again, and for his approach he was criticized by some who wanted a quicker–but riskier–approach.

In spite of his critics, this slow advance would be an important factor that led to the discovery of concentration camps. When he learned of the atrocities, he took it upon himself to examine every corner of the camps to understand what had happened and how it had come to pass.

She told us that he then issued orders for as many people as possible to document and bear witness to the camps. He brought in journalists, elected officials, and everyone fighting on the front lines.

He then had townspeople from surrounding areas marched through to see what their denial and willful ignorance had led to, and many were made to give burials to the deceased.

As she discussed the importance of Eisenhower’s foresight, and how he was able to anticipate that many people would not believe what had happened in the camps, Susan Eisenhower reminded us that Germany is one of the few countries in the world with zero tolerance of Holocaust denial. LEAP ambassadors learned about Germany’s efforts to reverse the wrongs of the Holocaust and its lingering effects earlier this year.

As the discussion transitioned to Eisenhower’s post-war service, I learned several interesting facts about his commitment to service and duty…

Apparently, on more than one occasion, President Truman offered not to run for reelection after his term, and instead let Eisenhower run for the Democratic nomination. Eisenhower refused each time because he was not in search of power. His granddaughter reminded us that he had wielded more power than most other leaders during World War II, and did not want run for president except when he felt it was his absolutely duty to do so.

A few other aspects of his commitment to duty were his refusal to wear a helmet because they should only be worn by those serving in combat, and his refusal to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor for the same reason – it was meant for those who had shown valor in combat.

The conversation then pivoted to Eisenhower’s leadership style as president of the United States. It was made clear that he did not engage in personal attacks; he was strategic and methodical in his political approach. When dealing with Senator McCarthy and his infamous hearings, Eisenhower did not call him out directly. Instead, he gave speeches about what American democracy should look like, insisted on televising the outrageous investigations, and let the Senate come to censure McCarthy on their own.

President Eisenhower also suffered no nonsense when it came to dealing with issues of race. As LEAP ambassadors learned in January of this year, the governor of Arkansas – Orval Faubus – dragged his feet in complying with the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, and made every effort to not desegregate schools. In response to this, Eisenhower mobilized the Arkansas National Guard and deployed 101^st Airborne (paratroopers he had commanded on D-Day) to protect a group of African American students, immortalized in history as the “Little Rock Nine,” as they desegregated Little Rock Central High.

Susan Eisenhower then spoke about how her grandfather was a leader through study and discipline, and was naturally empathetic. He knew what people needed to hear, and tried to be relatable and genuine whenever he could. We saw a picture of him speaking with members of the 101^st Airborne Division prior to D-Day and were told that he was discussing fly-fishing techniques with Lt. Wallace Strobel, rather than giving a pep talk about their mission. He wanted to remind them of their humanity.

Finally, President Eisenhower’s legacy of leadership and empathy are embodied eternally in Norman Rockwell’s portraits of him, which at various times depict him both serious and smiling. As his granddaughter explained, the big, toothy grin we saw was his trademark smile, as he was generally in good spirits around his family.

As the meeting came to a close, Susan Eisenhower reminded us that we will “be better as people if we can understand the views of those who come from…different backgrounds,” encouraging us to be ‘like Ike’ when it came to how we view and deal with those who are different than us.

This interview was so interesting and informative, and we were incredibly lucky to hear from Susan Eisenhower. We are grateful for her time and insight, and look forward to the possibility of meeting her in person someday soon.

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LEAP LEADs: Education and Health

LEAP LEADS: Meeting Four

Our fourth LEAP LEADs meeting was, again, full of educational opportunities. As soon as everyone settled in, we jumped right in by discussing our potential future careers and practiced interviewing used the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method.

We separated into two groups: the interviewers and the interviewees. I love speaking, so I decided that I wanted to be an interviewer, and when the scenario began, I asked Jayelynn and Juan questions regarding the position of being a Victim’s Advocate.

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As we wrapped up the interview process, we learned that the STAR method is a tried and true way to make a strong impression in an interview. By sharing an example and relating it to the interview question, you can support your answers with evidence. The best part about this exercise is that we experienced how it feels to interview and be interviewed by our peers.

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While eating fantastic food from Mama Juanita’s, we tune into the Texas Tribune Festival. The discussion this tonight is about how COVID-19 affects higher education, with a panel featuring Chancellor Renu Khator from the University of Houston System, Chancellor J.B. Milliken from the University of Texas System, and John Sharp from the Texas A&M University System.

These systems are three of the most prominent university systems in Texas, so the respective chancellors wanted to address students’ and parents’ concerns about the next step for higher education. Each chancellor expressed their concerns regarding student and faculty health, and all of them explained that their schools have structured protocol if a faculty or student gets in contact with COVID-19.

The chancellors all confirmed that they were restricting their in-person classes to, at least in one case, to as low as 5% of their total classes. They also stressed the need to be flexible and make necessary changes. It was interesting to find out that, while some Universities cancelled their football games (SHSU included) these three Universities did not. Chancellor J.B. Milliken explained, “…we will have social distancing guidelines for our stadium, and we will require fans to wear masks.”

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Lastly, we tuned into our final Texas Tribune discussion, which addressed Public Health and the 87th Legislature in Texas.

The discussion featured Representative Senfronia Thompson (D) from Houston, Texas, and Representative James Frank (R) from Wichita Falls, Texas. Representative Thompson has the honor of being the longest-serving African American woman for the Houston area since 1972.

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Representative Frank is a successful businessman in his fourth term in the Texas House of Representatives. The discussion centered around nursing homes, how they have been directly hit by COVID-19, and how the elderly are being negatively affected by the various policies and protocols in place to deal with the pandemic. Representative Thompson shared how her sister had an immediate effect on being housed at a nursing home during COVID-19, and unfortunately, she passed away due to her health conditions. While public health is currently vital in Texas, the 87th legislative session will occur on January 12, 2021.This meeting has been my favorite because I got to learn how chancellors run their university systems while learning about public health.

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LEAP LEADS: My Future Self

By Jayelynn Bordeaux

It is often easy to get caught up in school and extracurricular activities, and I find myself getting lost. Over the past few weeks, Leap LEADs has been influencing me to keep my eye on the prize. Adjusting to school this semester has been a struggle, but tonight’s meeting, and the exercises we did….

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….made me think about why I came to college and what I want to leave with.

The night began with us talking about our day-to-day schedule and time management. Specifically, we got estimates of how much time we spent in a week attending class, studying, working out, eating, self-care, sleeping, leisure time, etc. Iriyana added up the total hours spent in the week and we pondered about what we did with the rest of our time.

Personally, this led me to evaluate how I am using my time and opened my eyes to my free time I am not using wisely. We also spent some times discussing short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, and how those should fit together.

Professor Yawn emphasized the importance of making sure our short term goals match up with our goals in the future. This is very important to me because if I do not begin to prepare now and take baby steps toward who I want to be in the long run, then I am wasting my time. We discussed the areas we lack professionally, which leads to the importance of self-awareness. Self-awareness is substantial because before you can elevate you have to be alert to the baggage holding you back.

I feel one of the motives of Leap Leads is to make us aware. Whether it be aware of our opportunities, potential, knowledge, future, etc. Tonight I was driven to be knowledgeable of the levels of court. Particularly, we discussed Texas’s five-tiered court system. The lowest levels being the Justice of Peace and Municipal Court . Both courts deal with misdemeanors, with a focus on traffic stops and misdemeanors punishable by fine only. The County Court at law deals with cases more severe than minor offenses. For example, Class A and B misdemeanors or DWI cases (where no one was hurt).

The higher levels of court are the District Courts, Appeals Court and then the highest level: the Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. Texas is a bit different because they have the Supreme court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Supreme Court deals with civil cases and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals deals with criminal cases, for example, murders and the death penalty. Something I learned that stuck out to me about the county government is that a county judge is not a traditional judge. County judges are able to marry people and declare a person insane, but unless they preside over one of the smaller counties, they have little to do with the traditional concept of a judge.

Speaking of County Judges, tonight we were enlightened by the appearances of Lina Hidalgo and Clay Jenkins at the Texas Tribune Festival while enjoying dinner from City Hall Cafe.

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Lina Hidalgo is the Harris County judge and Clay Jenkins is the Dallas County judge.

Lina Hidalgo began her term as the County of Harris County in 2018. This was significant because she was the first woman to be elected county judge in Harris county.

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Clay Jenkins has been a county judge in Dallas since 2011.

Both judges expressed difficulties they have had dealing with the outbreak of the CoronaVirus. Specifically, with the legislation put in place by Governor Abbott restricting their power to enforce masks due to Covid-19. I agreed with Hidalgo’s statements that the enforcement of masks should not be political and rather just what is best for communities. Both County Judges discussed having concerns with the outbreak before anything was done and were not in favor of opening up before the curve had flattened. Ultimately, I took away that County Judges normally have a lot more power when a state of emergency is declared.

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I spent some time interacting with Juan during our workshop, which was on property tax. We learned how to calculate property taxes, learning the role of the Appraisal District, the Commissioners Court, and the taxpayer in the process.

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This evening was informative and I believe Leap Leads is keeping me on track with my goals in the future. We ended with Professor Yawn challenging us to do something different this week.

Artistic Landmarks: Nancy Rubins’ “Monochrome”

Whenever the LEAP Center heads to Austin, which is often, we do our best to visit the wonderful “Landmarks” art installations on UT’s campus. Among the most astounding pieces of art is Nancy Rubins’ “Monochrome.” Whenever students see it for the first time, they step away from it–not only to get a better look, but also for fear that it might fall on them.