Other than Mr. Putin, has there been occassion of an ex-secret agent becoming the primary executive power holder?
score:13
First of all, you should have detailed what did you mean with the term "modern era".
If this is related only to the post 1991 period, then there are numerous examples. Here is a list of some of such examples:
- Sergey Stepashin, who had served as the head of the FSB before he became the Prime Minister
- Mikhail Fradkov, currently he is the head of the SVR, and there is no direct mention that he was a secret agent before, but he was a Soviet diplomat during the USSR era, so one can be almost 100% sure, that he had a direct relation to secret services
- Yevgeny Primakov he was the Prime Minister and before that was a "secret agent"
These are only few, the most public and sort of famous. If I recall anyone else I'll edit the answer to add them to the list.
If you was asking about the Soviet era too, than I can name, at least, Yuri Andropov, who had been a diplomat and the Party officer (almost 100% sure that he had direct relation to secret services) before he became the General Secretary of the Party — de-facto and it might be de-jure the head of state in the USSR, I'm not an expert in the Soviet Constitution.
Upvote:7
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt--who went on to become the Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974--operated covertly against the Axis before and during World War II. During the 1930s, Brandt, a German national, worked with the international communist movement, including the Soviets, against the National Socialists in Germany. The name Willy Brandt itself was a pseudonym he adopted because the National Socialists knew his true identity (Herbert Frahm) and were after him. His activities included a period during which he operated inside National Socialist Germany using a false Norwegian identity. He was actually arrested in occupied Norway, but was released because the Germans did not realize who he was. He was active against the Axis in Scandinavia, operating in both Norway and Sweden. So Brandt acted as an intelligence operative under a cover identity in both a hostile nation and a nation occupied by a hostile power--qualifying him as a "secret agent" by any standard.
"Secret Agent" may not apply to Putin so much.
The term "secret agent" in your question is a little vague. Vladimir Putin was a KGB officer, but most of his career was spent inside the Soviet Union and not in an undercover capacity. He also spent five years in East Germany--an allied country with a permissive environment for the KGB--working overtly as a Soviet. Though he had a cover job as a translator, it's doubtful that the East Germans and the Western intelligence services did not know (or at least assume) that he was in the KGB. Unquestionably he was a civilian intelligence professional, but not exactly a "secret agent."
If you want to know if any other civilian intelligence professionals have ever become primary executive power holders, then one example is George H.W. Bush. During the Ford adminstration, Bush was the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI - then in charge of the CIA directly and the US intelligence community as a whole). Later, in 1989, he became the President of the United States.
More post
- 📝 Placard with 3 red crosses - probably WW1
- 📝 How was the first official geographical border established in Europe?
- 📝 Pushkin's daguerreotype and catalogues of early 19th century photographs
- 📝 Are there examples of stone age cultures living in proximity close to iron age cultures without adapting to metal use?
- 📝 Why were the Yellow River dyke repairs delayed?
- 📝 How did British queens get power over kings despite a male-dominant society?
- 📝 Vatican hidden (secret) rooms and passages?
- 📝 When was the golden era of Christmas?
- 📝 What does 'a long train' mean in the Declaration of Independence
- 📝 Were slave armies used?
- 📝 How many days have elapsed since October 23, 4004 B.C.?
- 📝 How is serfdom related to slavery?
- 📝 Caesar's comments on Celts(?)
- 📝 How widespread was pacifism in the WW2 USA?
- 📝 History of ideas, and importance of, "race" as a concept in the United States?
- 📝 Has China ever sent officials to collect tribute under the tributary system, instead of receiving missions, besides Zheng He's voyages?
- 📝 Were the Puritans for a State Church?
- 📝 How much of an impact did the Roman emperors' civil wars have on their decision to debase the coinage?
- 📝 Why did so many Italians emigrate to Argentina?
- 📝 WWI trench tactics using shields?
- 📝 Why didn't the Soviets keep their encircled forces supplied by airlifting supplies?
- 📝 Why is Dravidian history ignored?
- 📝 Where was the Barberini psalter created?
- 📝 How many people were executed during the reign of Henry VIII?
- 📝 What is the earliest written date?
- 📝 Has there ever been a major migration from the New World to the Old World? If not, why?
- 📝 When did countries begin making up a pretext before starting a war?
- 📝 Request for information about an Auschwitz-Birkenau story
- 📝 Were myopic slaves more valuable in ancient Greece?
- 📝 New Latin American navies raiding Spanish interests
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Other than Mr. Putin, has there been occassion of an ex-secret agent becoming the primary executive power holder?
- 📝 Has there ever been a cold war other than between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.?
- 📝 Has there ever been an archbishop or bishop younger than the 16-year-old James of Nicosia?
- 📝 Has there ever been a case when a traitorous military commander took command again for the side he betrayed?
- 📝 Has there ever been a major migration from the New World to the Old World? If not, why?
- 📝 Has there been any "invasive plants warfare" in the past?
- 📝 Has there ever been anything like the oil boom we see today?
- 📝 Has there ever been a true kidnapped princess from anywhere in the world?
- 📝 Has there ever been a serious effort to reform the US Electoral College system?
- 📝 Has there ever been a truly bilingual country prior to the contemporary period?
- 📝 Are there military commanders other than Khalid ibn al-Walid who have never been defeated?
- 📝 Has there ever been a mass migration of factories comparable to the USSR's in WW2?
- 📝 In the United States government, has there been cases that electoral colleges don't vote for the candidate the majority of their state voted for?
- 📝 Why has there only been one dynasty in the history of Japan?
- 📝 Has there ever been a US election that flipped as many state seats as the 2010 midterm elections?
- 📝 Has there ever been an attempted military takeover of a democracy in the western world?
- 📝 Has there been other settlements in occupied territories in recent history?
- 📝 Has there ever been an election where the two biggest parties form a coalition to govern?
- 📝 Has there ever been a situation where the "motherland" treated its colonies well anywhere in the world?
- 📝 What evidence is there of Asians and Africans in medieval Britain other than Moors in the 7th century?
- 📝 Has there ever been any assassination so that another assassination could happen during the first one's funeral?
- 📝 Has there ever been a case where a country adopted the currency of another country with a smaller economy?
- 📝 The monumental/architectural sculptures of Petra - has there been any research on the likely craftsmen who executed them?
- 📝 Apart from the White Ship in 1120, have there been any other maritime disasters in which an heir to a throne and/or many notable people died?
- 📝 Have there been other examples of reunification/annexation, such as in the Crimea, that succeeded without using deadly force?
- 📝 Have there been known instances in history when a queen consort slept with someone other than her husband, and no one got hurt? How was that possible?
- 📝 Has there been any culture where men typically have longer hair than women?
- 📝 Are there depictions of hors*m*n in Roman Republic other than on the coins?
- 📝 Has there ever been a war between two service branches in the same country?
- 📝 Has there been any court cases regarding the Third Amendment to the United States Constitution?