Tom Sylvester
Thomas Sylvester Jr. is an American intelligence official who had served as Director of the CIA for Operations|deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency for Operations]. He briefly served as the acting Director of the [Central Intelligence Agency|director of the CIA] in January 2025.
Biography
Sylvester is the son of a Foreign Service officer, and he grew up overseas, attending junior high school in Norway. He served as a United States Navy SEAL.He later joined the Central Intelligence Agency. He is a veteran operations official for the CIA and served in several locations overseas, including in the Middle East. According to the CIA's podcast, The Langley Files, Sylvester "played a central role in CIA's efforts to help Ukraine defend itself as Russia’s full-scale invasion commenced" in 2022.
Sylvester rose to the position of Deputy Director for Operations in the summer of 2023, replacing David Marlowe. In this position, Sylvester is head of the Directorate of Operations, thus being the leader of espionage for the agency. In February 2024, Sylvester appeared on the CIA's podcast, speaking publicly for the first time, discussing the importance of human assets in espionage despite the "proliferation of cyberintelligence."
On January 20, 2025, Sylvester was named by President Donald Trump as Acting Director of the CIA, as Trump's nominee for the position, John Ratcliffe, had not yet been confirmed by the Senate. Ratcliffe was confirmed by the Senate on January 23, 2025.