#intelligence agencies | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jidongliu · 2 months

Text

"We would prefer Biden to win the election," a senior Chinese intelligence officer told me

Last night, I attended an internal seminar on "US Strategy towards China and US Elections". This is the first seminar I attended after the Chinese Spring Festival holiday, and the seminar was conducted online.

For Chinese intelligence officials and political analysts, the most noteworthy international event in 2024 is the US election, and the election results directly affect the direction of China's foreign policy in the next five years. My department has rarely established a US election research group, recruiting experienced political analysts from around the world. In my impression, the last time a research group was established was in the 2008 US election, as the world was facing a severe global financial crisis at that time.

The seminar predicted the future direction of the US election. Interestingly, a senior intelligence analyst told me that they would prefer Biden to win the election because the liberal foreign policy represented by Biden is more favorable to China. I basically agree with his view, and the following are my reasons:

1.Biden's diplomatic decisions are more predictable and rational.

As an "old-fashioned" and "traditional" American politician, Biden's strategy follows the conventions of the traditional American political ecosystem: in line with the interests of "parties", following "party" decisions, "negotiating" and advancing his policies in a rhythmic manner. A very obvious example is the domestic of the Biden administration (3A, American Rescue Plan, American Jobs Plan, American Family Plan) , which is basically a variant of Roosevelt's 3R policy (Relief, Recovery, Reform). In terms of diplomatic principles, Biden fully inherited the diplomatic strategies of a series of Democratic presidents such as Obama. The core composition of his diplomatic team is "elitism" and "specialization".

2.Trump's diplomatic decisions are more emotional and unpredictable.

Trump is a political figure with a strong personal color and anti political tradition, and his most prominent feature in diplomatic decision-making is unpredictable.

We believe that personalized presidents like Trump are difficult to change the tone of US policy, and there cannot be a fundamental shift in US diplomatic logic. The underlying logic here lies in the intricate constraints and balances of American political power. Therefore, for the United States, the structural view that "China is the enemy" cannot be changed no matter who is elected.

Therefore, under the premise that China has no illusions about the long-term relationship between China and the United States, an unpredictable president will definitely bring greater harm to the relationship than a predictable president. In the specific social atmosphere of the United States, Trump will exacerbate "division" (cognitive, social), "internal contradictions", "partisan internal friction (strong retaliation of personal character)", and increase "uncertainty of foreign policy" (NATO). Trump may not be able to change the long-term logic of US foreign policy, but he has enough ability and energy to disrupt Sino US relations, Furthermore, it will drag the relationship between China and the United States into an irreversible situation.

#election 2024 #us presidential election #intelligence agencies #intelligence gathering #intel #geopolitics #donald trump #trump 2024 #trump #biden #president biden

3 notes · View notes

ayanasanova · 1 year

Text

Studying for my new goals.

#travel #writing #study notes #study aesthetic #university #cyberspace #cyberattack #business intelligence #intelligence agencies #artificial intelligence #british intelligence #istihbarat #international relations #international #public relations #istanbul

19 notes · View notes

whatisonthemoon · 1 year

Text

Questions Regarding the Counter-Cult Movement and Counterinsurgency

△ Pictured: Infamous deprogrammed Ted Patrick

The counter-cult movement emerged in the 1970s as a response to the growth of new religious movements, also known as cults. These movements were seen as a threat to mainstream society, and their practices and beliefs were often seen as controversial and dangerous. The counter-cult movement was composed of individuals and organizations that sought to counter the influence of these groups and to "deprogram" individuals who had joined them.

One of the central figures in the counter-cult movement was Ted Patrick, who was known for his aggressive and often confrontational methods of deprogramming individuals who had joined cults. He was joined by other individuals and organizations, including psychologists, ex-cult members, and religious leaders, who all shared a common goal of stopping the spread of cults and protecting vulnerable individuals from their influence.

As the counter-cult movement gained momentum, it attracted the attention of various government agencies and intelligence organizations. Some of these organizations saw the movement as an opportunity to address a perceived threat to national security, as some cults were seen as fronts for foreign governments or as potential sources of political subversion. In particular, the movement was linked to anti-communist counterinsurgency efforts, as some of the leading figures in the movement had backgrounds in military intelligence or were otherwise connected to anti-communist organizations.

The involvement of individuals with backgrounds in intelligence, military, and anti-communist activism in the movement raises questions about the level of federal and fascist intervention.

The belief that the counter-cult movement had connections to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and anti-communist, counterinsurgency elements stems from the historical context of the Cold War. During the 1950s and 1960s, the US government and intelligence agencies were concerned about the spread of communism and the influence of the Soviet Union, both domestically and internationally. Anti-colonial uprisings were sweeping across the Third World, and youth were actively involved in militant organizing in the imperialist nations, such as Japan, France, and the US.

Ted Patrick, who is credited with originating the practice of "deprogramming" cult members, had been said to have been an active informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after moving to California from Tennessee, leaving behind his wife and family at 25 years old, and becoming a civil rights organizer. He was said to provide Intel on Black organizers to the FBI. Prior to becoming a deprogrammer, he worked in California's government under Reagan.

Dr. Louis Jolyon West, who was a psychiatrist and former Army intelligence officer who had ties to the CIA's MK-Ultra mind control program.

Dr. Margaret Singer, a psychologist and former Army specialist in brainwashing and mind control who had worked as a consultant for various government agencies.

There is also evidence that some organizations associated with the counter-cult movement received funding from government agencies and individuals with anti-communist agendas. For example, the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), which was once the largest organization dedicated to countering the influence of cults, received funding from a variety of sources, including conservative foundations and individuals with ties to the intelligence community.

It’s apparent that the FBI/CIA had some involvement in not just infiltrating cults, and not just working with them, but at times even forming and coordinating cults. It seems that the same is true for the Counter-Cult Movement. How far did this go? What was the US government’s intention in doing this? There are so many questions regarding these operations that are unanswered.

#margaret singer #louis jolyon west #paul martin #paul cressy #ted patrick #counter-cult movement #counter-cult #deprogramming #CIA #FBI #intelligence agencies #counterinsurgency #anti-communism #mk-ultra

17 notes · View notes

cavalierzee · 8 months

Text

Intelligence Agencies Coordinate ISIS Attacks In Sri Lanka

"Channel 4 interviewed a man who said he arranged a meeting between a local Islamic State-inspired group, National Thowheed Jamath, and a top state intelligence official to hatch a plot to create insecurity in Sri Lanka and enable Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later that year."

2 notes · View notes

historyhermann · 1 year

Text

"Carmen Sandiego": An Enthralling Animated Series [Part 6]

Continued from part 5

The official Carmen Sandiego Twitter account teases a spin-off Carmen series in two tweets

Even though the series ended in January 2021, the show's official Twitter account confirmed that a spin-off series was in the "earliest stages". They also said that details would be shared as soon as they were available.

This article was originally meant for The Geekiary. I submitted the article in mid-August 2022, on August 16, and it got sent back for edits, and even after a long conversation with one of the editors, including re-submitting the article a second time, I decided to publish it on my own (see original post for details) It was published on my History Hermann WordPress blog on Jan. 2, 2023.

Unlike other shows, the official account remains active. Often the account shares fan art, images from the show, and other content. There is also a planned live-action film, with Rodriguez reprising the role of Carmen.

Such a spinoff could pick-up where the original series left off. It could focus, like various fanfictions on the topic, on the two year gap between Carmen becoming an independent thief tracking down VILE remnants, following the defeat of that organization.

As such, a spin-off could resemble, in some ways, Totally Spies!, especially if it focused on the stories of Jules, Chase, Ivy, and Zack as ACME agents. It would likely continue the theme of "good winning over evil".

On the hand, it would be different. ACME's technological know-how and technology, is no match for WOOHP (World Organization of Human Protection). They never whoop people out of nowhere, sucking them out of their lives and to an underground base in downtown Los Angeles. Neither does ACME employ animals as agents like the O.W.C.A. (Organization Without a Cool Acronym) in Phineas and Ferb and the second season of Milo Murphy's Law.

Even so, both organizations work with cops. Neither faces accountability for their actions. Equivalents to these organizations in reality are as terrifying as governmental intelligence agencies. The latter agencies, especially those in Western countries, interfere in countries by assassinating leaders, engage in psychological warfare, torture, or worse.

Moving back to the topic at hand, in the end, I would unequivocally recommend you watch Carmen Sandiego.

Currently, Carmen Sandiego, and the interactive special, To Steal or Not to Steal, is streaming on Netflix. See you next crime!

4 notes · View notes

pressnewsagencyllc · 24 days

Text

Pakistan: Three Judges Of Lahore High Court Receive Threatening White-Powder Letters - News18

Three judges of Pakistan’s Lahore High Court on Wednesday received threatening white-powder letters, a day after reports emerged that the Islamabad High Court judges received similar letters. Lahore police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) senior officers reached the LHC and took the letters into custody and launched an investigation. Security of the LHC judges has been enhanced…

View On WordPress

#Anthrax #Counter Terrorism Department #espionage #intelligence agencies #Investigation #Islamabad High Court #judges #Lahore High Court #Police #security #threatening letters #white powder

0 notes

gwydionmisha · 2 months

Text

#Intelligence Agencies #Donald Trump #Classified Documents #Election 2024 #News

0 notes

thepoliticalvulcan · 4 months

Text

Other national security agencies overtly work to discredit political and economic reform and jealously guard their unaccountability.

#mi5 #Wilson plot #national security #spying #intelligence agencies

0 notes

jidongliu · 2 months

Text

During the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2024, I met some old friends in Beijing, all of us are, or were, intelligence analysts. We got together for a meal, and talked a lot about international political events, including the event of Zaluzhne's removal.

Chinese military analysts arrived at a series of judgments that Zelensky would remove Zaluzhne from his post last June. The logic behind the incident is not complicated; it was a crucial counterattack by Zelensky against Western political interference.

I. Political symbols and military proxies

At the level of the Western public media, the most critical targeting figures for understanding "Why should I spend my money in Ukraine?" is Zelensky. Western public opinion portrays him as a pioneer in the "fight against Russian hegemony", "gatekeeper of Europe" and "defender of the free world". For many Americans, who don't even know where Ukraine is, Zelensky has become a special "political symbol", and if you want to destroy the evil Russians, you have to support him and unite around this symbol.

But the CIA, US DoD, and other military agencies deeply involved in the war will not trust the corrupt Ukrainian bureaucracy and military management system. So they need to put their tentacles inside the Ukrainian military system and cultivate agents they trust.

Zaluzhny is a Ukrainian military general who meets the criteria of "American assistance" and "American military values" Due to his long-term "front-line cooperation" with the US intelligence and military units, he was well received by the US government agencies (which does not mean that there were no decision-making conflicts between him and the US military advisors). His familiarity with the former Soviet military structure and his partially open-minded acceptance of the Western-style military transformation in the United States actually contributed to a series of successful "military counter-offensives" in 2022 (which would not have been possible without the Western military surveillance and intelligence system), which in turn deepened his "influence" among Ukrainian military and civilian population.

At this point, a contradiction arose. Although Zelensky is an apparent "agent" and Symbol, his special political position dictates that he must defend his own political interests. This interest is in fact contradictory and conflicting with the U.S. interest, for example, "the division of aid programs", "the arbitrary rejection of wartime elections" and "the difference in decision-making on military policies".

These contradictions increasingly favored Zaluzhny, and the U.S. sensed that military personnel who received direct U.S. aid were better to deal with than slippery-skinned politicians. Zelensky also saw the tendencies of the American supporters, as well as Zaluzhny's slowly developing "center of power and public attention" in the country, and Zelensky felt a sense of crisis - from Zaluzhny's political ambitions. Therefore, Zelensky had to get rid of him!

II. Future course of the incident

This event highlighted the existence of "divisions" and "contradictions" in the Kiev hierarchy, which obviously did not "positively contribute" to the war, but, on the contrary, it was the poor military performance and the pessimistic future that exacerbated this situation.

What is interesting here, and worth watching, is the reaction of the United States. The United States did not support the decision, but neither did it oppose it. The U.S. reaction reflects the fact that the U.S. "no longer expects" Ukraine to be victorious and that the war will soon be over. Think about what it means when a general who is considered competent and trusted by the army is replaced at a critical moment. It means that: （a） the US no longer believes that Ukraine can achieve a "meaningful and significant strategic breakthrough" and prioritizes the geopolitical stalemate, stabilizing the standoff, and stabilizing the faltering Ukrainian regime, and that possible negotiations are imminent; and （b）The U.S. must stockpile policies for the "dismal" expectations (Trump) of election year.

#u.s.#china #ukraine #russia #geopolitics #intel #political analysis #intelligence gathering #intelligence agencies

1 note · View note

jaideepkhanduja · 5 months

Text

Pakistan's Complex Role in the Global Fight Against Terrorism: A Controversial Landscape

Pakistan's Complex Role in the Global Fight Against Terrorism: A Controversial Landscape #Pakistan #Terrorism #Counterterrorism #NationalSecurity #IntelligenceAgencies #RegionalDynamics #MilitaryOperations! #NuclearSecurity #AfghanPeaceProcess

In the tumultuous landscape of global security, Pakistan stands as a pivotal player in the relentless battle against terrorism. Asserting itself as a victim of terror, the nation claims to have sacrificed over 80,000 lives and endured staggering economic losses exceeding $102.5 billion. Amidst these adversities, Pakistan contends that its military operations, particularly in the northwestern…

View On WordPress

#Afghan Peace Process #Counterterrorism #intelligence agencies #Military Operations #National Security #Nuclear Security #Pakistan #Regional Dynamics #Terrorism

0 notes

nicolae · 6 months

Text

Knowledge Engineering in Intelligence Gathering

Sfetcu, Nicolae (2023), Knowledge Engineering in Intelligence Gathering, Intelligence Info, 2:4, Abstract Intelligence gathering is an essential function for governments, security agencies, and organizations worldwide. It involves the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information critical to decision-making, security, and strategic planning. In this age of information abundance, the…

View On WordPress

#HUMINT #intelligence agencies #intelligence gathering #knowledge engineering #OSINT

1 note · View note

whatisonthemoon · 10 months

Text

Former Russian Prime Minister, Close Putin Advisor Sergey Kiriyenko is a Scientologist, and a brief history of the CIA’s relationship to Scientology

▲Kiriyenko and Putin

Former Russian Official Accuses a Top Russian Official of Being a Scientologist

Today Aaron Smith-Levin from the YouTube Channel, "Growing Up In Scientology," discussed a senior Russian official being accused of being a Scientologist by Russian nationalist, Army veteran, and former intelligence officer Igor Girkin, accusing Sergey Kiriyenko of being a Scientologist. Girkin has played a major role in organizing separatists and the more fascistic elements of militants in Ukraine. He was also appointed to as Minister of Defense in the Donetsk People's Republic, a puppet state of Russia. Though today Girkin supports Russia's efforts in Ukraine, he believes the government is not showing enough force and is botching the annexation and war in Ukraine. In 2023, Girkin organized fellow Russian fascists and nationalists into the “Club of Angry Patriots,” advocating for the violent seizure of the Russian state apparatus by nationalists.

Girkin has recently been discussing how for decades it has been known in Russia that Sergey Kiriyenko was or is a Scientologist, though it has been said Kiriyenko is currently inactive. Even while he was the Prime Minister, his affiliation was known among Russian politicians, with many finding it distasteful and a risk to the state. Even as popular sentiments in Russia were that Scientology was a cult, even within its government, Kiryeno remained favored by many Russian bureaucrats and long-time intelligence officers, including Putin.

Girkin mentions that prior to 1991, the Russian government believed Scientology to be a subsidiary of the CIA. He goes on to dismiss this claim, though he believed that Scientology did bring sabotage wherever it went, including to the Russian government, but that such sabotage was instead caused by foolish, unwise church leadership.

Scientology and CIA?

Miles Copeland Jr., long-time CIA officer who often wrote about the agency following his departure. Many of his claims have been proven true, though often sprinkled with exaggeration and intentional disinformation.

One of Copeland’s claims, made in “The Game Player,” was that both the Moral Re-Armament and Scientology were being used by the CIA for “political action.”

This is not difficult to believe, as the Sea Org in its heyday under the direct leadership of L. Ron Hubbard was known to travel the world, meeting with world leaders, and executing missions that many of its members did not understand.

Some seem to believe that it was after/during the trial of Operation Snow White, the church-led operation of 5,000 Scientologists infiltrating U.S. government agencies, when the Church of Scientology connected to the CIA, but in another video of Aaron’s, he interviews Janis Gillham Grady, who offered a tid bit that seems to suggest otherwise. Grady was an early member and one of the few people who worked with L. Ron Hubbard, who discussed Scientology’s role in Morroco’s 1972 coup. It is more likely that the Scientology’s government and FBI infiltration was led by the CIA, for information on other government agencies. The Scientologists were said to have gotten a number of FBI documents.

Copeland claims that the CIA had a plant in Scientology even prior to its official founding, at the Dianetics Research Foundation in 1950, and actively funded Hubbard's experiments. Both Charles Parker Morgan and John Starr Cooke are known to have strong OSS/CIA connections, and were known to have worked with Hubbard at this time.

On John Starr Cooke:

Some years earlier Bowen had fallen under the singular and charismatic influence of a mysterious guru-type figure named John Starr Cooke. A man of wealth and influential family connections, Cooke was no stranger to high-level CIA personnel. His sister, Alice, to whom he was very close, was married to Roger Kent, a prominent figure in the California state Democratic party; Roger’s brother, Sherman Kent, was head of the CIA’s National Board of Estimates (an extremely powerful position) and served as CIA director Allen Dulles’ right-hand man during the Cold War. John Cooke hobnobbed with Sherman Kent at annual family reunions and is said to have made the acquaintance of a number of CIA operatives while traveling in Europe.

Driven by an avid interest in the occult, Cooke journeyed around the world befriending an assortment of mystics and spiritual teachers. In the early 1950s he became a close confidant to L. Ron Hubbard, the ex-navy officer who founded the Scientology organization. Cooke rose high in the ranks of the newly formed religious cult. (He was the first “clear” in America, meaning he had attained the level of an advanced Scientology initiate.) Before long, however, he grew disillusioned with Hubbard and they parted ways.

Charles Parker "Bumps" Morgan was a OSS special investigator who approached Hubbard to for the Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation together with John Campbell Jr. In his role, he contacted the FBI to report Communists which the organization had discovered, often through auditing.

▲C. Morgan

L. Ron Hubbard's 1961 letter that discusses contacting the FBI due to communists his organization made contact with also makes mention of Morgan pushing the idea that there was "subversion" in the organization.

In 1978, the same year that Scientologists were on trial for infiltrating the U.S. government, though not its mastermind L. Ron Hubbard, the Stargate Project was initiated as a secret U.S. army unit by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Stanford Research International (SRI), a scientific research non-profit. Many of its most well known and central personnel were active Scientologists, including Hal Puthoff, Pat Price, and Ingo Swann.

Until at least 1979, Scientologists were heavily involved at the Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto, including Scientology intelligence officer Mike McClaughry.

Allegedly “remote viewing,” something this unit deeply researched, was used for anti-communist, anti-Soviet operations, but these three men allegedly were deeply interested in this experience because of their own Scientologist beliefs.

Puthoff, Price, and Swann all had reached at least OT III in Scientology, meaning they had reached the state of clear and had learned about the secret Scientology doctrines/space opera around Xenu. All three seemed to have left the Scientology in the late 70s.

It has been said that Puthoff's psyshics identified spies,,Soviet weapons and submarines. Puthoff today co-founded the UFO research company To the Stars with Tom DeLonge, Blink 182 guitarist and vocalist who has taken a huge interest in UFOs. It is believed that Puthoff is using DeLonge to spread disinformation around UFOs onto a new generation, especially TikTok-addicted teens.

Price was considered one of the most successful remote viewers. He was a police officer. He also fueled speculation in the government and outside of the government around aliens and UFOs, claiming to have located an alien base in a mountain in Alaska. He died

Kiriyenko has never denied being a Scientologist, though claiming the German article in 1998 that revealed his affiliation to be a funny “April fools joke”.

Notes and related links below

Psychics and Scientists: "Mind-Resarch" and Remote Viewing by Ray Hyman

1975 interview with Pat Price Sergey Kiriyenko, the ‘Viceroy of the Donbas’ who helped launch Putin’s career

Cold War Allies: The Origins of CIA's Relationship with Ukrainian Nationalists (1998)

Ukraine: The CIA’s 75-year-old Proxy

Evidence Emerges: United States is Planning to Interfere in 2023 Parliamentary Elections in Ukraine Russia's PM linked to Scientologists (1998) by Phil Reeves, The Independent

RUSSIA'S youthful, inexperienced and - until last week - almost unheard of prime minister-designate was yesterday grappling with potentially damaging allegations linking him with the Church of Scientology.

Just over a week after being yanked out of obscurity by Boris Yeltsin, Sergei Kiriyenko, 35, hit his first unexpected skid patch after a German newspaper, Berliner Zeitung, reported that he had attended a one-week Scientology course in Nizhny Novgorod when he was head of a bank three years ago.

The teachings of L Ron Hubbard are regarded with profound suspicion by Russian officialdom, particularly by the powerful Russian Orthodox church. The same views are likely to be shared by many of the parliamentarians due to vote on Friday over whether to confirm Mr Kiriyenko's nomination.

Yesterday, Mr Yeltsin sought to dampen the protests over his choice of prime minister by inviting the two speakers of parliament and Mr Kiriyenko himself to talks at his residence outside Moscow later today. The invitation appeared to work: soon afterwards, deputies from the State Duma, or lower house, dropped demands for Mr Kiriyenko's nomination to be suspended.

The minister yesterday tried to brush off the Berliner Zeitung report, which claimed he arranged for other bankers to attend similar seminars. He was reported to have declared that he appreciated the "simplicity and clarity" of Hubbard's teachings. Later, the paper said, he lost interest in Scientology.

Under quizzing from reporters, Mr Kiriyenko said yesterday it was the "best April Fool's joke yet". But there was no outright denial.

Although Scientology has a sizeable following among Russians, the ruling elite is unlikely to take kindly to the idea of being led by an official who has any links to it. Last year, hostilities erupted in a landmark court case over an Orthodox church leaflet which warned of the dangers of "totalitarian sects", naming, among others, the Scientologists, the Moonies and the White Brotherhood.

For all its distaste, Russia has not cracked down as hard as Germany which, in spite of outcries from human rights groups, US politicians and Hollywood heavyweights including Dustin Hoffman and Oliver Stone, passed tough laws controlling the Scientologists. But they were undoubtedly among the sects targeted by a law signed last year by Mr Yeltsin which restricted the rights of "non-Russian" religions.

1951 letter by Hubbard discussing contacting the FBI to report communists

1951 FBI document about Morgan contacting a special agent in order to report communists.

Why Scientology Had to be Destroyed: Russell Targ, Dave LaCroix talk Pat Price, Remote Viewing - an episode with a Scientologist and SRI/Stargate associated Russell Targ talk about their mutual friend Pat Price

Scientology timeline

Another Scientology timeline (special attention to remote-viewing)

Scientology and the CIA - by Aleksandr Leonidovich Dvorkin, president of the Irinaeus of Lyons Center for Religious Research Studies, on January 26th, 2016, at a conference run by the Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities

Scientology L Ron Hubbard talking about John Starr Cooke - October 19, 1956

#scientology #counterinsurgency #church of scientology #religion #cia #intelligence agencies #defense intelligence agency #united states of america #usa #u.s. government #world anti-communist league #l. ron hubbard #russia #government #russian government #sri #stanford research international #politics

2 notes · View notes

liesmyteachertoldme · 7 months

Text

A Condensed History

The National Security Act of 1947, signed by President Truman, created the CIA, the National Security Council, the Office of Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Air Force.3 As explained by the Office of the Historian,4 the Act "was a major reorganization of the foreign policy and military establishments of the U.S. government."

The CIA was an outgrowth of the World War II era Office of Strategic Services and several small post-war intelligence organizations, and as noted by Wallace:

"Since the beginning, the CIA has suffered a personality split, because in addition to intelligence, the Security Act of 1947 orders the CIA to 'perform other functions and duties as directed by the President and his National Security Council.' That phrase has become a sort of blank check, authorizing CIA excursions into everything from simple propaganda to the overthrow of unfriendly governments."

Wallace goes on to explain how the CIA ended up with fingers in so many pies. First, it set up several nondescript nonprofit foundations, the function of which were to funnel taxpayer money from the CIA to other, real foundations involved in real-world philanthropy.

However, in return for CIA funds, these foundations "agreed to become conduits for central intelligence," and funneled the exact dollar amounts received on to other organizations that, in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, joined the CIA's payroll to promote government-sponsored propaganda.

The CIA has corrupted the stream of truth ... It must be removed from all activities, except the very limited activity of what we know as intelligence activity, the field of spying and espionage. ~ Sen. Wayne Morse, 1967

These included not only youth organizations and student groups, but also church groups, public radio and news organizations. Sen. Wayne Morse slammed the CIA's covert propaganda activities, arguing the agency had created a "credibility chasm" within public opinion — a gap that could not and would not be bridged unless the government made clear that it would "fill the chasm with the truth."

"The CIA has corrupted the stream of truth, objectivity and academic learning," Morse told CBS News, "and it must be removed from all activities, except the very limited activity of what we know as intelligence activity, the field of spying and espionage."

Another senator, Eugene McCarthy, was also critical of the CIA's use of students and church groups to manipulate public opinion. He also said he felt there was "empire building" going on within the CIA — a statement that rings all the more true today.

Sen. John Stennis, member of the CIA Watchdog Subcommittee, defended the CIAs actions, reminding the CBS audience about the climate in which the agency was founded. In 1954, the U.S. Congress passed a bill outlawing communism, and the CIA was still basically protecting American liberty and democracy.

Former CIA director Allen Dulles also defended the agency's behavior, citing the need to manage the threat of communism. The counterargument presented by critics was that by using covert propaganda techniques, the U.S. government was using the same strategies as the enemy, thereby undermining the idea of America being a country dedicated to free speech and the diversity of ideas.

At the end of the day, the overarching message of the CBS News report was that the CIA needed to change with changing times, clean up its act and get out of the covert propaganda business, as its interventions were harming the American image of being a free and open country.

#CIA #intelligence agencies

0 notes