Thomas R. Wilson

Thomas R. Wilson
Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency July 1999 – July 2002
Born	(1946-03-04) March 4, 1946 Columbus, Ohio
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1969-2002
Rank	Vice Admiral
Commands held	Director, Defense Intelligence Agency Director of Intelligence, U.S. Atlantic Command
Battles/wars	Cold war
Awards	Defense Distinguished Service Medal (3) Distinguished Service Medal (Navy) Defense Superior Service Medal Legion of Merit (3) National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal Director of Central Intelligence Director’s Award

Vice Admiral Thomas Ray Wilson USN (born March 4, 1946) was Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from July 1999 to July 2002.[1]

Overview

Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, USN was the 13th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Other flag rank assignments included Director of Intelligence (J2), The Joint Staff; Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support, Central Intelligence Agency; Vice Director of Intelligence, The Joint Staff; and Director of Intelligence, United States Atlantic Command. Following retirement from the Navy in 2002, he served in several senior executive roles for Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK): President of ATK Missile Systems, Corporate Senior Vice President and President of ATK Precision Systems Group, and ATK Senior Vice President for Tidewater Operations, retiring from ATK in 2009.

Vice Admiral Wilson and his wife, Ann, have three sons: Jeffrey, Gregory, and Matthew.

Early life

Thomas Ray Wilson was born on March 4, 1946 in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in the small community of Groveport, Ohio. As a youth he spent much time working on family farms, acquiring a lifelong interest in agriculture and rural life in America. He graduated from Groveport Madison High School in 1964, where he was active in sports, band, and other school activities as well as the Boy Scouts of America and the Groveport Methodist Church. He is a member of the Groveport Madison High School Alumni Hall of Fame.

Education and training

Wilson entered The Ohio State University in 1964, and in 1968 graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, majoring in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. He entered Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI, in October 1968 and was commissioned an Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve in March 1969. Wilson was a distinguished graduate of the Defense Intelligence College in 1975, and was a member of the Defense Intelligence College class that participated in the pilot program leading to the college being able to grant a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence Degree. Other Military training included Communications Officer Ashore Course at Newport, RI in 1969; Targeting and mission planning at Nuclear Weapons Training Group Atlantic, in Norfolk, VA in 1980; and Flag and General Officer CAPSTONE Training in 1995. In 1978, while stationed in Keflavik, Iceland, he earned a Masters Degree in Management and Human Relations from Webster University of St. Louis, MO.

Career

Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson commenced active naval service on 26 October 1968 when he entered Navy Officer Candidate School at Newport, RI. He was commissioned an Ensign, USNR, on 14 March 1969 and was assigned to the Intelligence Division (J2) of the United States Taiwan Defense Command (USTDC) in Taipei, Taiwan in April 1969. Wilson served for two years as an Indications and Warning center watch officer, intelligence analyst, and command briefer at USTDC, a joint military command charged with planning for the defense of Taiwan. In March, 1970 he was promoted to Lieutenant (Junior Grade), USNR.

In May 1971 LTJG Wilson was transferred to the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC, serving virtually his entire tour there as an intelligence analyst in the current intelligence division (DI) supporting The Joint Staff. A Peoples Republic of China (PRC) air and missile analyst, he participated in national level current and crisis analyses of the Sino-Soviet border mobilizations, Chinese strategic bomber and missile development and deployment, and the 1974 Paracel Island conflict between the PRC and Vietnam. During this tour of duty, Wilson was promoted to Lieutenant, augmented into the regular Navy, and changed his designator from reserve unrestricted line (1105) to special duty intelligence (1630).

Following graduation from the Defense Intelligence College in May 1975 LT Wilson transferred to USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) home-ported in San Diego, CA. He served as the Division Officer for the ship’s Intelligence Division and as the Multi-Sensor Interpretation (MSI) Officer in the ship’s Integrated Operational Intelligence Center (IOIC) during a six month deployment to the western Pacific Ocean in 1975. KITTY HAWK changed home ports from San Diego to Bremerton, WA, in March 1976 where the ship underwent a one year overhaul, during which LT Wilson managed the ship’s force rehabilitation of all intelligence division working and berthing spaces.

From June 1977-June 1979 then LT Wilson served at U.S. Naval Station Keflavik, Iceland, where he was the operational intelligence officer at the Commander Iceland Sector Antisubmarine Warfare Group (COMICEASWGRU) in the Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Center (ASWOC) Promoted to Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) during this tour he supported antisubmarine warfare (ASW), airborne surveillance, and intelligence collection operations by P-3 patrol squadrons and special purpose surveillance aircraft and ships of the Atlantic Fleet and by patrol aircraft from a variety of NATO nations. This period of time was at the height of the “Cold War”, a period of extraordinary growth of the Soviet Navy, and characterized by unprecedented levels of Soviet submarine, surface ship, and naval aircraft deployments into the Norwegian Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

From July 1979 - June 1981 LCDR Wilson served as the senior intelligence officer for Carrier Air Wing THREE, stationed at Naval Air Station Cecil Field, Florida. Carrier Air Wing THREE embarked on USS SARATOGA (CV-60) for pre-deployment training in 1979 and made a six month deployment to the Mediterranean in 1980, where major operations included air-to-air missile exercises demonstrating freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Sidra.

From June 1981 – June 1984 LCDR Wilson was assigned as Force Intelligence Officer for Commander Patrol Wings Atlantic (COMPATWINGSLANT) at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine. As the senior intelligence officer in the patrol force, he directed the intelligence planning and support for two patrol wings consisting of twelve P-3 Orion squadrons and one Special Projects Unit. LCDR Wilson was promoted to Commander (CDR) during this tour.

From July 1984 – June 1987 CDR Wilson served in Naples, Italy, where he was assigned as Commander, Task Group 168.3 and Officer-in-Charge of the U.S. Navy’s European Forward Area Support Team (EURFAST). A field command of Commander Naval Intelligence Command that reported operationally to the Commander U.S. SIXTH Fleet, CTG 168.3/EURFAST was responsible for intelligence collection and direct support operations for SIXTH Fleet ships, submarines, and squadrons operating in the Mediterranean, including the deployment on ships and submarines of command Intelligence Specialists and Sonar Technicians (Acoustic Intelligence Specialists). In addition to these direct support operations, CTG 168.3/EURFAST operated an Acoustic Intelligence (ACINT) Analysis laboratory and supervised numerous bilateral intelligence agreements with allied European Navies. During this period of time, CDR Wilson was “dual-hatted” as Commander Task Unit 168.4.2, a Human Intelligence (HUMINT) organization supporting operational and administrative U.S. Navy commands in Southern Europe.

From July 1987 - June 1989 CDR Wilson served as Director, Fleet Intelligence (N2) for Commander U.S. SEVENTH Fleet embarked in USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19) home-ported at Naval Station, Yokosuka, Japan. In this role, CDR Wilson directed intelligence support operations for all U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Forces home-ported in or deployed to the Seventh Fleet Area of Operations in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, including Carrier Strike Groups, Amphibious Ready Groups, the Submarine Force, and Patrol Wing. During this period of time the Seventh Fleet intelligence team developed and experimented with the concept of “OSIS (Ocean Surveillance Information System) Afloat,” which was the temporary assumption by Seventh Fleet on USS BLUE RIDGE of fleet intelligence support operations normally performed by Fleet Ocean Surveillance Information Facility Western Pacific (FOSIF WESTPAC) in Kamiseya, Japan. Commander SEVENTH Fleet conducted extensive deployments throughout the Western Pacific, including an historic port visit to Shanghai, China - - the first since World War II. CDR Wilson was promoted to Captain, USN during his tour of duty as SEVENTH Fleet N2.

Returning to the United States for duty after five years overseas, CAPT Wilson reported to the Navy Staff at the Pentagon in July 1989 where he assumed duties as Special Assistant for Intelligence and Special Access Programs (SAPs) for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Naval Warfare Requirements (OP-07). In this position Captain Wilson coordinated the preparation of the Director of Naval Warfare for Special Program Review Group (SPRG) deliberations and decisions on the degree to which intelligence and highly classified developmental operational programs actually satisfied validated naval warfare requirements. This period of time included the run up to and conduct of Desert Storm combat operations against Iraq, during which Captain Wilson synchronized the transition of select high impact Special Access Programs from the later stages of development into highly successful early operational use in Desert Storm combat operations.

In early 1991 Captain Wilson transferred to Norfolk, VA, where he assumed duties as Director of Intelligence (N-2) for the Atlantic Fleet. In this role he had responsibility for direction and oversight of intelligence training and deployment preparation for Atlantic Fleet carrier battle groups (including carrier air wings), amphibious ready groups, submarines, and maritime patrol aviation squadrons. He also had overall responsibility for the Norfolk-based naval intelligence commands that supported Atlantic Fleet operations - - Fleet Ocean Surveillance Center Atlantic (FOSICLANT) and Fleet Intelligence Center Europe and Atlantic (FICEURLANT). In 1991-92, as the impact of the end of the Cold War manifested itself in vastly reduced Russian (as opposed to Soviet) naval operations and submarine deployments into the Atlantic and Mediterranean, new, different requirements for the fleet became increasingly challenging, e.g. counterdrug surveillance and interdiction operations. As a result, CAPT Wilson developed the concept and initiated the proposal to convert some of the Navy’s ocean surveillance ships (T-AGOS) operated by the Military Sealift Command to counterdrug platforms and to do the same for some of the P-3 maritime patrol aircraft of the Atlantic Fleet. Under his leadership three STALWART class T-AGOS ships were modified for a drug interdiction mission. The underwater acoustic arrays were removed, and air-search radars, integrated display systems, sophisticated communications suites and other special mission equipment were installed to detect and monitor suspected drug traffickers. Counterdrug Upgrade P-3 aircraft were also modified during this period of time, to include communications upgrades and the addition of air-to-air radar systems to track and identify potential drug-smuggling aircraft. An additional, and hugely important, responsibility during this period of time was capturing and evaluating all of the intelligence “lessons-learned” from Atlantic Fleet Carrier Battle Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups that were returning from combat operations during and in the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm. Atlantic Fleet Intelligence staffs and commands employed a highly disciplined process during this undertaking to identify and submit to the Chief of Naval Operations and Atlantic Command the recommendations that ultimately signaled the way toward significantly improved fleet operational intelligence support.

In May 1992 at the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Command (USCINCLANT), CAPT Wilson was nominated for the flag-rank billet of USCINCLANT Director of Intelligence, J-2. He was subsequently chosen for that assignment and later that year selected by the Navy for promotion to Rear Admiral (Lower Half). RDML Wilson served as the CINCLANT J2 until November 1994, a period of time that was highlighted by the interdiction of unprecedentedly large Haitian and Cuban refugee boat flotillas toward United States territorial waters and the construction and occupation of equally unprecedented refugee camps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; training for, deployment and execution of a USCINCLANT-led military intervention in Haiti; the implementation of many of the Desert Storm “lessons-learned” for enhanced electronic intelligence dissemination to operating forces; the transfer of most “echelon-above-corps” intelligence support resources from the military services to the combatant commands; and the transition of the United States Atlantic Command (USLANTCOM) mission from the near-total focus on its geographic area of responsibility to equal focus on joint force packaging, doctrine and training. This resulted in significant intelligence re-alignments and focus, as well the command being known as USACOM vs. USLANTCOM. Under Wilson’s leadership, USCINCLANT Intelligence conducted development and initial operational use of new intelligence dissemination and communications capability, along with the creation of the initial Joint Tactics Techniques and Procedures (TTP) documents that governed their introduction into current operations. These capabilities included Atlantic Command versions of what would eventually become the widely distributed Joint Deployable Intelligence Support System (JDISS) and Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communication System (JWICS). Both of these Atlantic Command-developed systems were used to provide intelligence support to operational forces engaged in the Haiti intervention in 1994. In what was to become standard operating procedure later in the 90’s and throughout the first decade of the 2000s, the Haiti intervention featured the first use of JWICS in a command and control function, including regular JWICS teleconferences between the President, Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, USCINCLANT and all of his component commanders (Forces Command, Air Combat Command, CINCLANTFLT, and COMARFORLANT), and operational commanders Haiti JTF Commander/18th Airborne Corps Commander/US SECOND Fleet Commander (all co-embarked on USS MOUNT WHITNEY), 10TH Mountain Division (embarked on USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER), JSOC (embarked on USS AMERICA), embarked Marine Amphibious forces, and Commander Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay.

From November 1994 - September 1997 RDML Wilson was assigned as Vice Director for Intelligence (VJ2), The Joint Staff in the Pentagon. In his responsibility as the J-2’s principal deputy, he played a significant role in helping provide current and crisis intelligence support to senior civilian and uniformed military leadership in the Department of Defense. This support included providing daily intelligence briefings to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS), Assistant Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (ACJCS), and the following additional Joint Staff flag and general officers: Director and Vice Director Strategy and Plans (J-5), Vice Director (VDJS), and Vice Director for Operations (VJ3). He also conducted the daily intelligence briefing for the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (USDP) and his entire staff. During this period of time, the U.S. military continued to be engaged in crisis operations around the world, including Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti, conduct of Operation Northern and Southern Watch in Iraq, and United Nation Peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to his current and crisis intelligence support responsibilities, RDML Wilson led the Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Joint Warfighting Capability Assessment (ISRJWCA) as a part of the newly established Joint Warfighting Capability Assessment process sponsored by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) chaired by the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VCJCS) and consisting of the Vice Chiefs of each of the military services. The ISRJWCA team, which consisted of representatives from the Joint Staff, all military services and all combat support intelligence agencies, conducted landmark analysis on the ISR requirements necessary to achieve “dominant battlespace awareness” over a range of contingency-type operational scenarios. It is out of this continuing analysis, which was briefed twice a year during JROC trips to each of the Unified Commands, that the identification and measurement of the contributions of various types of intelligence disciplines and platforms (satellite, manned aircraft, and UAV’s) was determined. An optimal mix of these platforms, along with an essential commitment to reserve funding for adequate tasking, processing, exploitation, and dissemination (TPED) investment, was the strong recommendation that resulted from the ISR JWCA studies and was adopted by the JROC. The major contributions of UAV’s with multiple sensor packages in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and the Global War on Terrorism are considered validations of the ISR assessment work done in the mid-1990s.

In September 1997 RDML Wilson commenced a short tour of duty at the Central Intelligence Agency where he served as the Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support. In addition to coordinating intelligence support operations between the Central Intelligence Agency and United States Military Combatant Commands, RDML Wilson served as the DCI representative to the Military Intelligence Board, regularly supported the DCI at the Principals’ Committee meetings of the National Security Council, and frequently represented the DCI at the Deputies’ Committee meetings of the same organization. He was promoted the Rear Admiral (upper half) during this tour of duty.

In March 1998, at the recommendation of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and with the concurrence of the Secretary of Defense, RADM Wilson was assigned as the Joint Staff Director of Intelligence, J-2, a [Defense%20Intelligence%20Agency%20(DIA) Defense Intelligence Agency] billet operationally allocated to the Joint Staff. The J2 concurrently serves as the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Director of Current Intelligence Operations and is responsible for the operation of the National Military Joint Intelligence Center (NMJIC) which is collocated with the National Military Command Center. The Joint Staff J2 is charged with leading and directing current and crisis intelligence support for the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and managing intelligence support for contingency operations, including targeting and battle damage assessment responsibilities, with the combatant commands. The Joint Staff was almost continually engaged in high paced contingency operations during RADM Wilson’s time as J2 in 1998-99: Daily No Fly Zone enforcement over Iraq, the conduct of a four day strike campaign (Operation Desert Fox) against Iraq in December 1998, and the escalating crisis in Kosovo culminating in a 78 day NATO bombing campaign (Operation Allied Force) led by the U.S. against the former Yugoslavia from 24 March – 11 June 1999. Terrorism against the United States also escalated significantly during this period of time when Al Qaida operatives in Kenya and Tanzania conducted suicide bombing attacks against United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on 7 August 1998. This resulted in strike operations conducted less than two weeks later by U.S. forces against Al Qaida targets in Afghanistan and Sudan. In addition to coordinating intelligence support both up and down the chain of command, the Joint Staff intelligence team was intricately engaged in the analysis, selection, targeting, and battle damage assessments (BDA) associated with the respective strike campaigns. RADM Wilson frequently provided targeting and BDA briefings to the President, his national security team, and relevant congressional committees. He also was one of the primary Pentagon spokesmen who regularly briefed the national press corps on ongoing strike operations and BDA.

In May 1999 Thomas R. Wilson was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for promotion to Vice Admiral and appointment as the 13th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He assumed that post on 27 July 1999, relieving Lieutenant General Patrick M. Hughes, US Army. As DIA Director VADM Wilson also served as the Chairman of the Military Intelligence Board (MIB) consisting of the military service intelligence chiefs, the combatant command directors of intelligence, and the directors of the intelligence community’s designated combat support agencies - - the de facto Director of Military Intelligence. In this role he immediately convened the MIB in executive session and encouraged the senior leaders to work together to identify the four or five most pressing challenges facing the military intelligence community, assemble joint teams and leaders to put together plans and guide united efforts to address those challenges, and to conduct sustained campaigns aimed at solving intractable problems and implementing new doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures appropriate for the next century. The idea was to collectively narrow down the agenda to the agreed upon most pressing challenges, obtain military intelligence leadership “buy-in,” and conduct a concentrated, sustained campaign to achieve success without getting diverted by the “here and now.”

The priorities chosen by the MIB, which became known as “The Four Thrusts,” were as follows:

1. “Shape to Meet the Asymmetric Threat” - - essentially making the unequivocal statement that intelligence plans and capabilities driven by “Cold War” priorities and doctrine would not suffice for the future and committing to develop new, more appropriate capabilities and tactics, techniques and procedures for the new emerging challenges.
2. “Attack the Data Base Problem” - - an unambiguous recognition by the MIB that the constant diversion of resources away from focused data base work toward current and crisis intelligence commitments was undermining the “life blood” of biographic and facilities intelligence, including targeting support and validated “no-strike” lists.
3. “Achieve Integration and Interoperability” - - a stated awareness by the MIB that the proliferation of different information technology systems with non-standard formats and protocols, both inside the intelligence community and among its customer communities, was significantly hindering the capability to provide first rate intelligence support in an efficient and effective manner.
4. “Revitalize and Reshape the Work Force” - - a salient acknowledgement by the MIB that, to meet the challenges laid out in the “Four Thrusts Agenda,” one of those “thrusts” had to be a commitment to improving and making far more flexible the human resources system that was employed to identify skill set requirements, find and recruit, hire, train and educate, incentivize, and compensate the people needed to meet the challenges of the future.

The agenda identified by the MIB, which was the unrelenting focus of military intelligence system improvement during Vice Admiral Wilson’s time at DIA, proved to be a prescient set of priorities as the intelligence community was thrust into a new set of realities that were precisely aligned with the “Four Thrusts:” The expanding asymmetric threat of terrorism leading up to and exploding with the attacks of 9/11, the vital importance of accurate and complete data bases as military operations associated with the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) emerged, the absolute reliance of tactical forces on timely and interoperable data delivered electronically on integrated operational systems, and the need to expand and improve the personnel resources of the military intelligence community to respond to dramatic new challenges in the post-9/11 environment.

While the “Four Thrusts” were an elected area of concentration of DIA and the military intelligence community, the brazen and barbaric attacks by our country’s terrorist enemies plunged the entire military intelligence team deep into a concentration on defending the country against terrorists and attacking this vicious enemy wherever and whenever possible. While the attacks of 11 September 2001 were the largest and most significant, they were preceded on 12 October 2000 by an Al Qaida suicide bombing of USS COLE (DDG 67) in the Yemeni port Aden, killing seventeen American sailors and injuring thirty-nine others. This bombing resulted in an accelerated shifting of intelligence resources to the terrorism crisis that had begun after the African embassy bombings in 1998.

The attacks of 11 September 2001 thrust DIA into the war on terrorism in a personal, emotional, and unanticipated way as seven DIA civilian employees were killed and eight more (seven civilian and one military) DIA personnel were wounded when a hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 was crashed into the Pentagon. The immediate aftermath of this tragedy was for the agency a painful and demanding period of time as DIA’s workforce did everything possible for the families of the dead and cared for the wounded and their families. The agency simultaneously “spun up” operationally to take the battle to Al Qaida on a worldwide basis, beginning with the start of Operation Enduring Freedom strikes against Al Qaida and Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan on 7 October 2001.

While the continually expanding Global War on Terrorism was the central area of operational concentration for the balance of Admiral Wilson’s tenure as DIA Director, additional significant and important issues were addressed aggressively, including a counterintelligence effort that resulted in the arrest of a Cuban spy inside DIA and intense focus on huge and dangerous military buildups on the India-Pakistan border following a militant attack on the Indian parliament on 13 Dec 2001. With regard to the latter issue, Admiral Wilson traveled to both countries in early 2002 for consultations with their military intelligence services aimed at explaining U.S. views of the dangers inherent in the buildups and chances for miscalculations that could potentially result in nuclear exchanges. Additionally, intense intelligence preparations for what was to eventually become Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2002. A final issue of extraordinary importance – one that commanded VADM Wilson’s personal attention and effort during his time as DIA Director – was the issue of LCDR Michael Scott Speicher who was shot down on the first night of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and was the only military member not accounted for when that conflict was concluded. During this period of time DIA became the primary intelligence community organization leading efforts to learn the truth of this case, which was not finalized until his remains were recovered on 2 August 2009 and positively identified shortly thereafter.

Other notable events during the 1999-2002 period of Vice Admiral Wilson’s DIA directorship include: successful Y2K preparations and transition into the year 2000, dedication of the Shelby Center for Missile and Space Intelligence at Huntsville, AL, the emergency landing of a U.S. Navy EP3 aircraft on China’s Hainan Island, the historic visit of Vice President Cheney to DIA, and winning authorization for expansion of the Defense Intelligence Agency Headquarters at Bolling Air Force Base.

Vice Admiral Wilson was relieved as Director of DIA on 29 July 2002 by Vice Admiral Lowell (Jake) Jacoby, USN.

After retiring from the Navy in 2002, Vice Admiral Wilson joined Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK) as President of ATK Missile Systems Company in Woodland Hills, California, and was elected a corporate Senior Vice President in August 2003. From 2003-2006 he served in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as President of ATK Precision Systems, a $600M business group specializing in design, development, demonstration and production of tank ammunition, precision-guided weapons, and defense electronics and force protection systems for the U.S. military and our allies. From 2006-2009 Vice Admiral Wilson was ATK’s Senior Vice President for Tidewater Operations and Combatant Command Relations. In that position he led ATK’s efforts at understanding and shaping near and long term military requirements emanating from the military commands in the Tidewater area, as well as the worldwide joint combatant commanders.

Vice Admiral Wilson is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Global Defense Technology and Systems, Inc. and serves on the Board of Directors of Global Integrated Security (U.S.), Meggitt Defense Systems, Inc, and Wilcoxon Research. Inc. He is past member of the National Defense Industrial Association Board of Trustees, The Ohio State University Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Defense Science Board’s task force on intelligence, and a Director of National Intelligence task force on security.

Awards, decorations and badges

Admiral Wilson has received the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (three awards), Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (two awards), Navy Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Joint Service Commendation Medal (two awards), and Navy Commendation Medal (two awards), the National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (four awards), and Navy Overseas Service Ribbon (four awards).

Unit awards include the Joint Meritorious Unit Award with Oak Leaf Cluster and Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation with two Bronze Stars.

Authorized badges include the Atlantic Command Badge, The Joint Staff Identification Badge, and the Defense Intelligence Agency Badge.

Vice Admiral Wilson has received the following awards from foreign countries: Republic of China (Taiwan) Service Ribbon, Czech Republic Order of the White Lion, and the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.

Vice Admiral Wilson is also the recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Central Intelligence Agency Director’s Award, and the Defense Intelligence Agency Director’s Award. In 2001 he received the NAACP’S Meritorious Service Award for his leadership of DIA’s nationally recognized Diversity and Equal Opportunity programs.

U.S. military decorations

	Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with 2 oak leaf clusters)
	Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Navy)
	Defense Superior Service Medal
	Legion of Merit (with gold star)
	Meritorious Service Medal (with gold star)
	Joint Service Commendation Medal
	Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medal (with oak leaf cluster)
	National Defense Service Medal (with bronze star)
	Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
	Navy-Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon (with 3 bronze stars)
	Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (with 3 bronze stars)
Unit awards
	Joint Meritorious Unit Award (with oak leaf cluster)
	Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (with 2 bronze stars)
Badges
	Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
	Defense Intelligence Agency Badge
	United States Atlantic Command Badge
National non-military awards
width=106	National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal
	Director of Central Intelligence Director's Award
DIA award
	Defense Intelligence Agency Directors Award

References

• DD Form 214 (Wilson, Thomas R )
• U.S. Navy Flag Officer Personnel Files
• U.S. Navy Orders
• http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1999-04-15/html/CREC-1999-04-15-pt1-PgS3820-9.htm
• http://www.dia.mil/history/directors/vadm-wilson.html
• https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-archive-1997-1/pr103197.html
• https://fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/031902wilson.pdf
• http://avalon.law.yale.edu/21st_century/t_0032.asp
• http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=thomas_wilson

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN