Walter Paul Senio

Colonel Walter P. Senio USAF (Ret), who spent most of his military career as an intelligence officer with the U.S. Air Force, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency, died on December 30, 2018 at the age of 98. Beloved father and grandfather (Pop-Pop), his survivors include his children (Jessica Arcidiacono (Bill), Ian Senio (Joan), Sarah Senio (Jon Barrett), and Chris Senio (Laurie)), seven cherished grandchildren (Alexa, Tyler, Allison, Samantha, Katherine, Andrey, and Karlie), brothers Peter (Helen) and Nicholas (Marie), and sister Alice Caselli. Colonel Senio was predeceased by his wife, the former Barbara Jeanne Tukis of Weymouth, Massachusetts who died in 1979. She was a graduate of Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, and had been employed by the CIA prior to marriage.

Colonel Senio enlisted in the then Army Air Corps in 1942 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant Bombardier in 1943. During World War II he flew a total of 33 combat missions as a bombardier on B-24 Liberator bombers. Thirteen of these missions were flown with the 15th Air Force flying out of Manduria, Italy. Twenty missions were flown with the 8th Air Force flying out of Attleboro, England, which included a mission on D-Day in support of the Normandy invasion. He was discharged into the active reserve in 1945 as a 1st Lieutenant and was recalled to active duty during the Korean War in 1950 as an intelligence officer. He had a total of 30 years of active duty and seven years of active reserve duty.

Colonel Senio’s military assignments included duty as an intelligence staff officer in then West Germany (1951-1955), assistant air attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow (1960-1962) and air attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (1968-1970). During his attaché assignments he reported on Soviet activities related to the Cuban Missile Crisis and Soviet invasion in Czechoslovakia. He was a Russian language translator on the Washington-Moscow “Hot Line,” which was a direct teletype communications emergency link between the U.S. and Soviet heads of state situated in the Joint Chiefs of Staff Command Center in the Pentagon (1963-1965). His last overseas assignment was as an intelligence staff officer with the 7th Air Force in Saigon, South Vietnam (1970-1971). This was followed by duty with a USAF human source intelligence (HUMINT) collection agency (1972-1975) and duty with the Defense Intelligence Agency where he served as Chief of the Soviet/Warsaw Pact Division, Directorate of Estimates. In this capacity he represented the DIA in NATO intelligence threat studies and deliberations.

Colonel Senio retired on July 1, 1979. His military decorations include two awards of the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and campaign medals.

In civilian life, during his break in military service, Colonel Senio was a newspaper reporter with the Danville-Commercial News in Danville, Illinois and the Binghamton Press in Binghamton, New York, both Gannett newspapers. Following his military retirement he worked as an intelligence analyst with Systems Research Laboratory and later as a Russian language translator with the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS).

Colonel Senio, who was born in Mayfield, Pa. on March 5, 1920, was a graduate of the University of Scranton and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, from which he received a master’s degree. He also received a master’s degree in political science from Columbia University.

During his spare time Colonel Senio loved to spend time with family, garden, play tennis (which he did into his 80’s), attend “round table” luncheons with his friends, and discuss politics/issues of the day with friends and family alike. He was an avid reader (in several languages), occasional guitar player, and frequent cook of delicious soups. He had an abiding faith that ultimately carried him through life’s difficult times and unshakeable patriotism. We miss his presence and wise counsel gained from a life well-lived. Our family would like to thank the Greenspring team (Springfield, VA) for their dedication and wonderful care of our father in his later years.