---
born: 1951-08-22
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2026-09-22
relations:
- fn: 1
  role: officer
  start: 1976
  type: member_of
  with: '[[United States Marine Corps]]'
- fn: 1
  role: operations officer; Deputy Director for Operations 2002-2004
  start: 1981-01
  type: employed_by
  with: '[[Central Intelligence Agency]]'
- end: 2006-06
  fn: 1
  role: chief operating officer
  start: 2005-04
  type: employed_by
  with: '[[ArmorGroup International]]'
- end: 2006-06
  fn: 1
  start: 2005-11
  type: director_of
  with: '[[ArmorGroup International]]'
- fn: 1
  role: Deputy Director
  start: 2006-07-24
  type: employed_by
  with: '[[Central Intelligence Agency]]'
- end: 2021-06-22
  fn: 2
  role: national security director
  type: director_of
  with: '[[T-Mobile US]]'
summary: Career CIA operations officer who headed the Directorate of Operations from
  2002 to 2004, worked for ArmorGroup International, and returned as the agency's
  Deputy Director in 2006.
tags:
- Person
- CIA
- Counterintelligence
- PrivateMilitaryContractors
updated: 2026-09-22
---

Stephen R. Kappes was born on August 22, 1951, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He took a bachelor's degree in pre-medicine at Ohio University and a master's degree in pathology at Ohio State University, served as a Marine Corps officer from 1976, and joined the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) in January 1981.[^1]

### CIA

Kappes served in the agency's Near East and South Asia Division until his promotion to the Senior Intelligence Service in July 1995, with more than twelve years overseas in the [Middle East](/places/middle-east/), Asia and Europe; he speaks Farsi and Russian. From 2000 to 2002 he was associate deputy director of operations for counterintelligence and, for part of that time, chief of the Counterintelligence Center. From 2002 to 2004 he served as Associate Deputy Director for Operations and as Deputy Director for Operations.[^1]

He left government service and in April 2005 joined ArmorGroup International, where he was chief operating officer and a director from November 2005 to June 2006. He was sworn in as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on July 24, 2006.[^1]

### T-Mobile

Kappes held the seat on the board of T-Mobile US that the company was "required to have" as a "National Security Director" under national security commitments made in connection with its combination with Sprint; [Letitia Long](/people/letitia-long/) succeeded him in that seat on June 22, 2021.[^2]

[^1]: "Stephen R. Kappes," Central Intelligence Agency, About CIA, Leadership, posted April 5, 2007, last updated April 15, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070612215306/https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/leadership/kappes.html
[^2]: T-Mobile US, Inc., proxy statement, April 27, 2022, SEC Form DEF 14A, www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar.