He was the Deputy Director of Operations of the CIA. although Suskind also calls Pavitt the 'director of operations' on pg 382 of The Way of the World. Suskind claims Pavitt 'snubbed' the Iranian government in the summer of 2003, when he messed up a meeting the British government had set up between him and them in Geneva. Mayer quotes Kiriakou claiming that abuse of prisoners required the approval of the Deputy Director for Operations, which Mayer says was Pavitt for much of the time in question See also wikipedia:James_Pavitt Mayer, Jane. The Dark Side, Doubleday, 2008, isbn 9780385526395