Charles L. Stiles – Commander, United States Navy

Charles L. Stiles, 73, a consultant who was a former Navy aviator and submariner who had held posts with the State Department, National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency, died of cancer January 16, 1998 at his home in Plano, Texas. He had moved to Plano from Potomac in September.

Mr. Stiles, a native of Bushnellsville, New York, enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and served aboard submarines in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and graduated in 1949. The next year, he received his pilot's wings.

In the 1950s, he flew electronics and anti-submarine warfare reconnaissance patrols off China and Korea, and he was a French language interpreter in Vietnam. After graduating from the Navy's intelligence school and receiving training in Russian and Turkish, he served tours in the Mediterranean. Before retiring from active duty as a commander in 1967, he served with the National Security Agency, where his posts included that of chief of Soviet European fleet analysis.

From 1967 to 1969, he worked for the Air Force space systems staff before returning to NSA as deputy chief of its engineering office. In 1972, he became a member of the intelligence community staff at the CIA, where he worked on classified space programs and intelligence research and development matters.

In 1976 and 1977, Mr. Stiles served as program office director with the State Department's Sinai support mission. He also chaired a United Nations group at this time seeking advanced technology for peacekeeping forces.

After retiring from the government in 1977, he did consulting work in Washington, California and Pennsylvania for such companies as General Electric, Ford Aerospace and Fairchild communications and electronics. In 1989, he formed Technology Planning Associates in Bethesda, which does international information systems consulting work.

Mr. Stiles, who also spoke Arabic, received the Legion of Merit and Air Medal from the Navy, as well as the National Intelligence Medal. A golfer, he was a member of the Congressional Country Club. He also was a member of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Potomac and the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation.

Survivors include his wife, the former Margaret Atwell,; six children, Christine Stiles, Charles III, Pamela Stiles Rosener, Timothy Brady Stiles, and Sandra Stiles Jackson and Donna Stiles; a brother, George; a sister, Genevieve Dickson; and seven grandchildren.

He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on January 28, 1998.

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