David Gries

Gries

David Gries

David Gries, who served the CIA in Asia and on the National Intelligence Council, dies at 90



David Dauby Gries, Asia expert at the CIA, died on April 4, 2023. He was 90. Son of Lincoln and Lillian Gries, he was born on May 8, 1932 in Akron, Ohio. Gries attended Hotchkiss and Yale.



A 35-year veteran of the CIA, Gries served in the 1960s and 1970s in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Beijing, where he was station chief. In the 1980s, Gries served as National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, and as the CIA's Director of Congressional Affairs during the Iran-Contra Affair, earning praise from US Senator Sam Nunn for carrying out "difficult tasks with great professionalism." He later served as Vice President of the National Intelligence Council, writing the President's daily intelligence brief. Retiring from the CIA in 1994, he was honoured with the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.



Gries later founded Asian Strategies Group, a China consultancy, and China Vitae, an online biographical database of Chinese VIPs. Gries also served his local community, founding Little Falls Village, an aging in place community in Bethesda.



Gries valued family, curating and publishing online his grandfather Moses Gries' sermons. Rabbi Gries was a leader of American Reformed Judaism.



David Gries is survived by his wife Susan; his sister Jean Homeier; and two children, Caroline and Peter. A third child, Susannah, died in 2017. He is also survived by two stepchildren, Susan and Colin Thomas, and seven grandchildren.



Services were private.