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A leading OSS, later CIA (1941 - 1980) counter-intelligence specialist and a noted 'hardliner', Angleton believed strongly that the Soviet intelligence apparatus had successfully penetrated both MI5 and the CIA. Angleton began his career in espionage in the wartime OSS. During his time in Italy both before and after the end of the war, Angleton developed a deep relationships with leaders of the Jewish underground who later became senior officers in Israel's secret service, the Mossad. Because of these ties, he entered the CIA with the clear understanding that he would head the Israeli desk. In Angleton the Israel Intelligence Service found a firm friend and was to receive much help in intelligence gathering. Most of Angleton's efforts, however, were directed at counter-intelligence. He would spend endless hours studying every detail concerning a suspect.
On the international front, Angleton became obsessed with the KGB and constantly highlighted its activities. What had really convinced him that there was a Soviet 'mole' or even 'moles' inside this organization were the claim's made by a Soviet defector, Antoli Golytsin. This former KGB spy, who was once described as a charming con artist, insisted that a Soviet spy worked right in the heart of the headquarters at Langley, Virginia. Angleton was the only senior CIA officer who really took Goltsin seriously. He spent thirteen years, from 1961 to 1974, doggedly pursuing this mole in vain.
Becoming something of an institution at the CIA, his authority was unchallenged. When Richard Helms took over from Dulles he permitted Angleton to continue to operate autonomously, utilizing an enormous budget. All of this came to an end when William Colby became Director of the CIA. Colby thought little of Angletons counter-intelligence activities, believing them to be a waste of money, effort, and time. Both men had disliked each other since their days together in the OSS and in December 1974, Colby relieved Angleton of his duties with the Israeli desk and counter-intelligence. Colby allowed Angleton to stay on with the CIA as a consultant, but expected that Angleton's demotion would cause him to resign.
When Angleton hung on, Colby leaked a story that Angleton was spying on American agents by opening CIA mail. Believing that there was a plot against him, Angleton finally left the service an embittered man. He made no secret of his dislike for Colby, telling associates that the DCI had irreparably damaged the CIA by revealing its secrets to the Church Commission and by eventually dismantling the counter-intelligence branch. A point not lost on present-day CIA Directors when looking back on the millionaire mole found in their midst, Aldrich Ames, who effectively proved that although Angleton had become paranoid and divisive, there had been more than a grain of truth in his beliefs.
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