He told a high school counselor that he hoped one day to lead the CIA, and, during breaks from school, he spent two summers as an intern there. In 1973, he received a master’s degree in government and Chinese studies from Columbia and then joined the CIA as an intelligence analyst. At the time, the Church Committee was uncovering decades of abuses by the CIA, and laws were being passed to curtail its activities. But Barr embraced its mission and questioned the aggressiveness of the congressional oversight, later saying that the Church Committee delivered “body blows” to the agency.
