Colonel William Henry Drohan

Colonel William Drohan of Scottsdale, AZ passed away June 12, 2024. He was born in Fall River, Massachusetts to Frank & Rita Drohan. He graduated from Boston College and the US Army War College with three master’s degrees. Colonel Drohan was married to Bernadette Scarcella in Maryland. He served as a US Army Intelligence Officer for over 35 years. He loved his pets, as well as all animals, teaching and reading. He is survived by his wife Bernadette Scarcella Drohan. Private services will be held in Maryland at a future date. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to Arizona Animal Welfare League or any other no kill shelter of your choice.

More about Colonel Drohan’s extensive military and academic career:

Bill Drohan spent over thirty-five years as an intelligence officer, including active military service and assignments with three Federal agencies. After graduating from the United States Army Officer Candidate School, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, he began his career as a United States Army Military Intelligence Officer. While on active duty, he researched and prepared Army responses for searches of all counterintelligence records by the United States House of Representatives, Assassinations Committee; major class action suits involving Army intelligence; alleged fugitive Nazis; and many other sensitive projects. Colonel Drohan served for nine years in assignments including tactical psychological operations and counterintelligence before leaving active duty for the Army Reserve. He continued his intelligence career as a civilian intelligence analyst with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, specializing in Latin American drug trafficking, and serving as Assistant Editor of the National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee’s annual Narcotics Intelligence Estimate. He also represented the Drug Enforcement Administration in the preparation of National Intelligence Estimates relating to drug trafficking. He later served as a Supervisory Intelligence Officer with the Customs Service, Drug Intelligence Branch, where he headed the Customs Intelligence Southwest Border Analytic Team; prepared Congressional testimony on drug trafficking for senior Customs management; prepared Customs’ first intelligence collection requirements system; and the first comprehensive study of all locations where Customs operates. He also conducted financial intelligence analyses of money laundering groups; represented Customs in intelligence collection requirements committees; and in the preparation of National Intelligence Estimates and in other inter-Agency projects. Colonel Drohan’s last Federal assignment was with the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he served as a Senior Intelligence Analyst, with assignments including the Terrorism Desk, National Military Joint Intelligence Center; Balkans Joint Intelligence Task Force; and NOBLE EAGLE (counter-terrorism) Intelligence Task Force. He has lectured on the international drug trafficking industry in the instructional programs of the CIA; Joint Military Intelligence Training Center; Defense Attache School; U S Air Force Special Operations School; and at the NATO Defense College. As an Army Reservist, Colonel Drohan taught intelligence collection; national security policy formulation; counterdrug intelligence; and writing at the Joint Military Intelligence College (now the National Intelligence University). He was selected Outstanding Reserve Faculty Member of the Year in 1999. He also served as Reserve Director for the College’s Postgraduate Intelligence Program – Reserve, and headed the College’s Army Reserve Detachment, retiring as a Colonel after over thirty years of service. Now retired both from the Army Reserve and the Federal government, Colonel Drohan is a faculty member at American Military University, a defense contractor and author. Colonel Drohan is a certified Intelligence Community Officer, and has a BA in Political Science from Boston College; an MA in History form Catholic University of America; an MS in Strategic Intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College; an MS in Strategic Studies from the U S Army War College; and is a graduate of the U S Air Force Air War College and the U S Army Command and General Staff College. His awards include the Legion of Merit; the Meritorious Service Medal; Joint Commendation Medal; and the Military Intelligence Corps Association’s Knowlton Award for outstanding contributions to the military intelligence community. He has published numerous classified intelligence items and has also published in “Operation JUST CAUSE”, Bruce Watson, ed., Westview Press, and the Defense Intelligence Journal.