FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1988

David Atlee Phillips, writer-spy David Atlee Phillips. 65, a former bestowed CIA Seal Medal, the high- CIA officer who left the agency to go est honor the agency can give a non- public in defense of spying, died of employee. lung cancer yesterday at his home in Mr_ Phillips was born in Fort Bethesda. Worth, Texas. and attended William The spy, he contended, was "the and Mary College. He enlisted in the Only person in the United States who Army Air Corps during World War II didn't have a constituency." and served as a nose gunner in a 8-24 Mr_ Phillips retired from the Cen- bomber. Shot down over Austria in tral Intelligence Agency in 1975. 1944, Mr. Phillips was held in a The next year, he published "The prisoner-of-war camp. He escaped Night Watch,"a still-pop ularmemoir and returned to allied lines after 16 of 25 years under cover. days of hiding. He was awarded the He took to the lecture tour, also, Purple Heart and the Air Medal. with the message that because spy- An actor before the war, Mr. Phil- ing is necessary, it is therefore hon- lips moved to Chile in July 1948 and orable. One of five books he pub- purchased the English-language lished was meant specifically for daily newspaper the South Pacific young people seeking intelligence Mail_ careers. Me Phillips was recruited by the He prized the fact, he told The CIA in 1950 and moved to Guate- Washington Times in March, that mala, where he took part in the 1954 David Allen Phillips many students who heard his cam- overthrow of leftist dictator Jacabo pus lectures Went on to work for the Arbenz. CIA — despite their teachers. He next worked undercover in the country as part of the U.S.- A president's role, Mr Phillips Havana and briefly undercover in imposed truce_ said he believed, is to deploy covert Beirut, Lebanon, in 1957. During Mr. Phillips also served as CIA operatives sparingly, with full con- 1960 and 1961, Mr. Phillips was in station chief in Brazil and Venezuela gressional oversight. He long advo- charge of a clandestine radio station and became the agency's chief of cated that the CIA's clandestine on Swan Island, near Cuba. Western Hemisphere operations branch be shrunk to 100 trained pro- In 1965, Mc Phillips became a CIA from 1973 until 1975. fessionals— to preserve secrecy and officer, as opposed to an agent, in A month after he Left the agency, accountability to Congress — and re- Mexico City. He worked as station the Association of Former intelli- moved from the agency. chief in the Dominican Republic gence Officers was organized by a Last January, Director William during the civil war and helped force handful of officers in the living room Webster awarded him the rarely Gen_ Elias Wessin y Wessin to leave of his home. Today, AFIO has 20 chapters around the country In addition to the Seal Medal, Mr. Phillips received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the Intelli- gence Medal of Merit. He is survived by his second wife., Virginia Phillips; three daughters, Maria Ligiero of Brazil, Debra Phil- lips of Bethesda and Winne Phillips of San Francisco; and four sons, Da- vid A. Phillips Jr of Santa Fe, N.M., Christopher Phillips of Bethesda, Bryan Phillips of Virginia Beach, and ibdd Phillips of Bethesda.