Norman Longfellow Smith, 83; CIA Official

Norman Longfellow Smith, 83, a former deputy chief of operations in the CIA's counterintelligence service, died of congestive heart failure and complications of Guillain-Barre Syndrome on May 26 at his home in Middleburg.

Mr. Smith, who joined the CIA in 1951, analyzed Soviet armaments and, after the Soviets launched Sputnik, specialized in ballistic missiles and space vehicles. In 1960, he chaired an intelligence community task force to monitor missile activity outside the Soviet Union.

Dino Brugioni, an imagery analyst with the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center who worked with Mr. Smith, described him as a defensive-missile specialist in the agency's Office of Scientific Intelligence who focused on surface-to-air missiles.

Brugioni, who wrote "Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis" (1990), said others in the interpretation center spotted surface-to-air missile sites in spy satellite photographs taken over Cuba in fall 1962. The short, pipe-smoking Mr. Smith was called in, and he began writing daily reports, concluding that construction was rushing forward and that some sites would be operational in two weeks, Brugioni said.

A short time later, when a U.S. U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba and low-altitude spy flights came under fire, Mr. Smith did the analysis about how and why it happened, Brugioni said in an interview. Intercepted radio traffic was in Russian, so it was clear that the Soviets were involved. The information sparked what came to be known as the Cuban missile crisis.

Mr. Smith was reassigned in 1968 to the CIA's counterintelligence staff. He rose to the top ranks of the division, which handles clandestine operations overseas. He held that job until the CIA was reorganized in 1975 and 1976, in the wake of newspaper and Senate investigations over revelations that the agency had assassinated foreign leaders and conducted surveillance on thousands of American citizens active in the antiwar movement.

Mr. Smith then became executive director of a task force to modernize and reform management procedures in the Directorate of Operations, and he retired in 1978. He worked 10 more years as a consultant for several defense contractors.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was drafted into the Army during World War II and spent several years at Purdue University in Indiana until he was sent to Europe with an infantry division. He became an officer in the Army Reserve and retired in 1980 as a colonel. Among his military awards were a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

He graduated from Colgate University and in the 1950s completed a doctoral degree at the London School of Economics. He also attended the National University of Mexico, Heidelberg University in Germany, New York University and Georgetown University.

He was past president of the International Order of the Knights of the Round Table in Arlington and treasurer of the Arts Club of Washington. He was a member of the Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired, the Central Intelligence Retirees' Association, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, the Fairfax Hunt Club and the Evergreen Country Club.

He was a Republican Party precinct chairman in Fairfax County and a member of the Emmanuel and Trinity Episcopal churches in Middleburg and Upperville.

His marriage to Deana Browne Smith ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 22 years, Carolyn L. Tillotson-Smith of Middleburg.