--- alias: - Eugene F. Tighe Jr. - Gene Tighe born: 1921 category: Intelligence & Government created: 2026-09-22 died: 1994-01-29 location: Los Angeles, California summary: Air Force intelligence officer who directed the Defense Intelligence Agency from 1977 to 1981, during the Grill Flame program's oversight fights, and led a 1986 review of DIA's handling of POW/MIA reports. tags: - Person - EugeneTighe - DIA - USAF - GrillFlame - POWMIA updated: 2026-09-22 --- Eugene F. Tighe Jr. was born in 1921 in New Raymer, Colorado, grew up in [Los Angeles](/places/los-angeles/), enlisted in the Army in September 1942, was commissioned from the artillery officer candidate school at Camp Columbia, Australia, in 1944 and served as an anti-aircraft adviser with the 43rd Bombardment Group in New Guinea, the Netherlands East Indies, the Philippines and the Ryukyus. He graduated from Loyola University, Los Angeles, in 1949 and entered the Air Force in August 1950 as an intelligence officer, serving in Korea, at Carswell, with the 497th Reconnaissance Technical Squadron in Germany, and from 1960 to 1965 as chief of the research center of the 544th Aerospace Reconnaissance Technical Wing at Offutt. After the Air War College he was director of targets at Seventh Air Force in Vietnam, then at Air Force headquarters director of estimates and of intelligence applications, and from 1972 director for intelligence at Pacific Command. He was deputy director of the [Defense Intelligence Agency](/organizations/defense-intelligence-agency/) from September 1974 to August 1976, acting director from December 1975 to May 1976, assistant chief of staff for intelligence of the Air Force from January 1977, and, appointed by the president in June 1977, director of DIA from September 1977 to August 1981, promoted lieutenant general on September 1, 1977. He retired on September 1, 1981, and died on January 29, 1994.[^1][^2] ### Grill Flame Under Tighe DIA carried out the 1978-79 reorganization that "established five major directorates," and his deputy for scientific and technical intelligence, [Jack Vorona](/people/jack-vorona/), chaired the Defense Department's committee on the Army's remote-viewing program. An Army memorandum of July 10, 1978, records "the 23 June meeting with VORONA and LTG TIGHE," "at which time VORONA said that Congressman [ROSE](/people/charlie-rose/) has agreed to sign some sort of letter that DOD could pull out and use in a contigency situation," and that "LTG TIGHE is not fully supportive, or at least enthusiastic, about the military jumping in on Parapsychology R&D"; Vorona sat on the Grill Flame steering committee at its first meeting in February 1979 "standing in for LTG Tighe." When the [Gale Committee](/events/grill-flame-scientific-evaluation-committee/) briefed the working group on January 10, 1980, "it was suggested that General Tighe contact Dr. Laberge to obtain copies of the report and to stop any further distribution," and Major [William Stoner](/people/william-stoner/) recorded that "Dr Vorona sent a memo to LTG Tighe (11 Jan). It urged the Director to intercede with Dr LaBerge on the report"; Lieutenant Colonel [Murray Watt](/people/murray-watt/) wrote his comments the next month for "Dr Vorona's letter to LTG Tighe," whose "tone... will be rather general." An undated note from Major General [Edmund Thompson](/people/edmund-thompson/) asked him to meet as one of the Grill Flame steering committee's "principals."[^3] ### After DIA The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs reported in 1993 that DIA's handling of live-sighting reports had been reviewed in "Task Force reports conducted in 1986 by Gen. Eugene Tighe (USAF-Ret.) and Col. Kimball Gaines (USAF-Ret.)," among reviews that found the agency's POW/MIA office "defensive toward criticism" and "slow to follow-up on live-sighting and other reports," with "a 'mindset to debunk.'"[^4] [^1]: "Lieutenant General Eugene F. Tighe Jr.," U.S. Air Force biography, current as of April 1981, af.mil, Wayback Machine capture of September 24, 2018. The biography gives the birth year only. [^2]: "Lt Gen Eugene Tighe Jr., USAF, September 1977 - August 1981," Defense Intelligence Agency, Directors of DIA, Wayback Machine capture of January 20, 2022; "Directors of the Defense Intelligence Agency," DIA history mirrored at irp.fas.org/dia/product/present/dia-history_dr.html. The DIA list dates the acting directorship from January 1976. [^3]: *Report by the Grill Flame Scientific Evaluation Committee,* December 1979, CIA-RDP96-00788R001300120001-5; Stoner, William L., memorandum of conversation, January 14, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230017-7; Defense Intelligence Agency, minutes of the DoD Grill Flame Committee, January 10, 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000100009-1; Watt, Murray B., comments on the report, February 1980, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000130025-0; Thompson, E. R., "Note for: LTG Tighe," undated, CIA-RDP96-00788R002000250008-6; Stoner, memorandum of conversation with Mehuron, July 10, 1978, CIA-RDP96-00788R001700230007-3. Read in the archive.org mirror of the CIA FOIA Reading Room STARGATE collection. [^4]: *Report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs,* S. Rept. 103-1, January 13, 1993, executive summary. https://fas.org/irp/congress/1993_rpt/pow-exec.html