Obituaries

In Memoriam

Bob Snow — Former Army Counterintelligence Corp Member and Secret Service Assistant Director

Retired Secret Service Assistant Director Robert 'Bob' Snow of Ashburn, Virginia, 93, passed away peacefully on March 22, 2025. Bob was born in Rochester, New York.

John Bestic — Former CIA Executive

John B. Bestic, Jr., a two-decade resident of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, died on March 23 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was a retired senior Central Intelligence Agency officer and a Vietnam veteran.

Lois Critchfied — Former CIA Officer, Author, and AFIO Member

Lois Critchfield of Williamsburg, VA died in late March 2025. She attended Miami Edison Highschool and Brenau College in Gainesville, GA, and she held BS and MA degrees in economics from the University of Florida.

Dick Carlson — Cold War VOA Director, U.S. Ambassador to the Seychelles

Dick Carlson, a former journalist who led the Voice of America under Republican administrations decades before the GOP was shaped by hard-right commentators — including his son Tucker Carlson — and President Donald Trump began a push to effectively silence the U.S.-funded broadcaster, died March 24 at his home in Boca Grande, Florida.

Mickey Kappes — Decorated CIA Senior Operations Officer and AFIO Member

George M. “Mickey” Kappes, 93, of Merritt Island, FL passed away on March 23, 2025.

Oleg Gordievsky — KGB Colonel and MI6 Asset

Oleg Gordievsky, who has died aged 86, was a colonel in the KGB who served as an agent for MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, from 1974 to 1985.

Jay Hamon — Former NSA Executive

Jay Rodney Hamon passed on 17 March 2025. Rodney grew up in Linthicum Maryland.

Richard Slarb — Career NSA Officer

Richard Slarb passed peacefully on Friday, 07 February 2025. Born in Lodi, OH, he graduated from Northwestern High School in West Salem, OH, where he was a member of the 1959 baseball state championship team. After high school, he entered the Navy and served our country for over 4 years and was stationed in Iceland, Homestead and Pensacola, FL.

Dick Nyren — DIA Intel Officer and Defense Intelligence Systems Agency Computer Scientis

Richard Patrick Nyren Jr, 81, of Chantilly, Virginia, passed away peacefully on January 14, 2025. he was the oldest of nine children and was born in Boston, Massachusetts.