Richard Welch

Central Intelligence Agency officer

Richard Skeffington Welch (December 14, 1929 – December 23, 1975) was a career Central Intelligence Agency officer.He was the Chief of Station (COS) in Athens, Greece, when he was assassinated by the Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N).

His assassination led to the passage of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, making it a crime to expose or identify officers working in covert roles who had not officially been acknowledged as such by the U.S. government.