--- ---  # White House Accidentally Reveals Name of CIA Chief in Afghanistan  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 26, 2014 12:37 PM UTC  President Barack Obama gestures while speaking to troops at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, Afghanistan, during an unannounced visit, May 25, 2014. President Barack Obama gestures while speaking to troops at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, Afghanistan, during an unannounced visit, May 25, 2014.Evan Vucci—AP  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 26, 2014 12:37 PM UTC The White House[ inadvertently revealed the name ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-mistakenly-identifies-cia-chief-in-afghanistan/2014/05/25/ac8e80cc-e444-11e3-8f90-73e071f3d637%5Fstory.html)of the top CIA officer in Afghanistan when it provided reporters with a list of officials participating in President Barack Obama’s surprise Memorial weekend [visit to troops](http://time.com/114214/obama-afghanistan-secret/). In a press list of 15 officials circulated to up to 6,000 recipients, including TIME reporters, one name appeared next to the title Chief of Station, the title of the top CIA officer in a country. The White House, which received the list from military officials, soon realized the mistake and issued a revised copy without the name. TIME is withholding his name after Obama officials cautioned The Washington _Post_, which first reported on the snafu, that the officer and his family could be at risk if his name were published. Given the officer’s prominent role, his identity is probably known by the top echelons of the Afghan government, so it’s still unclear if he will be pulled out of the country, the _Post_ reports. The CIA and the White House declined to comment to the Washington _Post_. White House Names CIA Chief in Afghanistan By Accident ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/115882/white-house-cia-chief-afghanistan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/115882/white-house-cia-chief-afghanistan/"},"headline":"White House Accidentally Reveals Name of CIA Chief in Afghanistan","datePublished":"2014-05-26T12:37:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:02:38.592Z","description":"The White House issued a corrected list of officials, without the name of the CIA officer, but only after the initial list had been distributed to more than 6,000 people","url":"https://time.com/115882/white-house-cia-chief-afghanistan/","keywords":["CIA","Afghanistan","White House","President Barack Obama","Kabul","intelligence"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cb25a8994077335/698690d7361760795a90c2ac/president-barack-obama-afghanistan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0cb25a8994077335/698690d7361760795a90c2ac/president-barack-obama-afghanistan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama gestures while speaking to troops at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, Afghanistan, during an unannounced visit, May 25, 2014.","caption":"President Barack Obama gestures while speaking to troops at Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, Afghanistan, during an unannounced visit, May 25, 2014.","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/cia/","name":"CIA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/115882/white-house-cia-chief-afghanistan/","name":"White House Accidentally Reveals Name of CIA Chief in Afghanistan"}}]}] ```