A station chief is a government official who is the head of a team, post or function usually in a foreign country.
Historically it commonly referred to the head of a defensible structure such as an ambassador's residence or colonial outpost.
[citation needed] In Germany a Stationsleiter (station leader) was the government's chief representative in a colonial possession like South Sea Islands.
The station chief is often a senior U.S. intelligence officer who represents the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in his or her respective foreign government, whose name may ("declared status") or may not ("undeclared status") be officially revealed to the host nation and other intelligence agencies.
[1][2] Former officers are not usually allowed to include their positions as station chiefs in their résumés even after their covers have been lifted.