NIP Binnacle List: Douglass Hubbard

RADM Tom Brooks has brought a binnacle List item to our attention, and this is a special one.

PLEASE CONSIDER HELPING. We passed the hat here at the Quarterly desk and hope you will consider doing the same.


("Special Agent, Vietnam" tells Doug Hubbard’s story. At its peak deployment the NIS contingent in Vietnam numbered fewer than two dozen agents, all of whom were volunteers. The striking breadth of investigations that are vividly detailed in this book reflect the challenges faced by this small cadre of dedicated professionals.

NIS agents were responsible for both counterintelligence and for investigating criminal activities. One senses from Hubbard's account how overwhelming the burden of tackling both missions really was).



As former DNI Brooks notes, “Doug Hubbard was an ONI Special Agent who served three tours in Viet Nam." During those three years, Doug was regularly exposed to the defoliant known as Agent Orange. He travelled through all four Tactical Zones working alongside the Marines and Sailors at their forward military operating bases in South Vietnam. Because of that exposure to Agent Orange, he has now developed Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. He is in the advanced stages of this untreatable terminal disease, and his one hope is a full lung transplant.

Doug is now in very poor health, broke, and in need of help for immediate medical bills. As a civilian Special Agent, he is not eligible for military or VA benefits, despite having served three years in a combat zone. His shipmates from NISO, Viet Nam and others who served with him have contributed generously as have some NCIS Special Agents, but more is needed.

Many of us who are long of tooth served tours of duty with NIS and have great respect for the old ONI Special Agent Corps, with whom we worked. I would ask that you look at Doug’s website www.hopefordoug.com and consider helping, if you can. His story of duty in war-torn SE Asia is also a worthy addition to any intelligence officer's library- it is available here on Amazon.

Thank you,

Tom Brooks