CIA 
-
SOURCE: The Intercept
5/9/2023
The Ford Administration Used a CIA Agent's Killing to Silence Sen. Frank Church
The assassination of Richard Welch in Athens in 1975 came as the Church Committee was beginning its final report; the White House and the CIA claimed, without proof, that the committee's investigation of CIA actions exposed Welch's identity. Welch's deputy in Athens now speaks out.
-
SOURCE: Mother Jones
10/5/2022
For a Secretive Agency, the CIA Has a Long History of PR Stunts
Historian David S. McCarthy puts a new CIA-sponsored podcast in the context of decades-long efforts by the Agency to portray itself as the good guys in a dangerous world while obscuring their role in creating the danger.
-
8/14/2022
Killing of al-Zawahiri in Kabul Vindicates Strategic Separation of Counterterrorism and Military Occupation
by Brian Glyn Williams
On withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Biden administration touted its "over the horizon" capability to track and target terrorists from afar. If the strategy proves out, it should mean the ability to fully decouple antiterror operations from foreign military presence.
-
SOURCE: NPR
7/26/2022
At 75, the CIA is Back to Battling the Kremlin
The common objectives and concerns that engaged the Central Intelligence Agency at its 1947 founding are familiar to the intelligence community today, showing the continuity of American involvement in other nations' affairs.
-
SOURCE: CSPAN
1/27/2022
CIA Director John Deutch at Los Angeles Town Hall in 1996 Denies Agency Sold Cocaine in City
A town hall meeting in Los Angeles grew heated when the CIA director denied allegations published by reporter Gary Webb that the Agency was involved in importing and distributing drugs to South Central Los Angeles.
-
SOURCE: Defector
1/11/2022
How the Cold War Killed Cannabis as We Knew It
When Henry Kissinger sought to assert American control of Caribbean bauxite ore reserves, he set off a political dirty war that poisoned the Jamaican interior and destroyed prominent strains of cannabis in the name of marijuana interdiction.
-
12/12/2021
The Hidden Story of the West's Most Important Double Agent
by Tim Tate
How and why did the CIA turn on Michal Gleniewski, a Polish defector who was one of the most valuable intelligence assets of the Cold War?
-
SOURCE: Boston Review
8/4/2021
UFOs and the Boundaries of Science
by Greg Eghigian
The history of the UFO phenomenon is a lens on to the process by which scientists police the bounds of respectable inquiry.
-
7/18/2021
The Government's Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Doesn't Answer Many Questions
by David Marks
The minimal and inconclusive US Government report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena has not enlightened us about the nature of UFOs.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
5/21/2021
"A Drop of Treason": Philip Agee, CIA Whisteblower Gets a New Bio
Jonathan Stevenson's new book on Philip Agee, who left the CIA and exposed its operations in Latin America, struggles to portray the complex mix of principle and egotism that drove its subject.
-
SOURCE: Skipped History
3/24/2021
The 1954 US-Backed Coup in Guatemala
by Ben Tumin
Ben Tumin's "Skipped History" video series returns with a discussion of the 1954 Guatemala Coup, drawing on the work of Greg Grandin, Stephen Kinzer and Steven Schleshinger, and Vincent Bevins.
-
SOURCE: Smithsonian
1/15/2021
You Can Now Explore the CIA’s ‘Entire’ Collection of UFO Documents Online
If you want to read nearly 3,000 pages of CIA documents related to reports of UFOs, now you can.
-
SOURCE: Muckrock
9/16/2020
Dive Into John F. Kennedy’s Daily CIA Updates
Muckrock invites interested historians and history enthusiasts to participate in a project to make declassified Presidential intelligence briefings more widely accessible.
-
9/20/2020
Dwight Eisenhower Built up American Intelligence at a Crucial Moment
by Steve Vogel
Dwight Eisenhower oversaw an aggressive building of American intelligence capability toward the USSR, moving espionage to a more prominent role in Cold War foreign policy. This included ordering the CIA to tunnel into East Berlin to tap Soviet phone lines.
-
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
9/4/2020
I Danced in the Streets after Allende’s Victory in Chile 50 Years Ago. Now I See its Lessons for Today
by Ariel Dorfman
The Chilean author Ariel Dorfman warns that while his country elected a democratic socialist in a landmark election, it was unprepared to deal with violent and ruthless efforts to maintain the status quo. Joe Biden is no socialist, but if he wins, his administration and Americans at large must be similarly prepared.
-
SOURCE: NBC News
6/7/2020
A Message from 'Queen Elizabeth' to the Shah Played Role in CIA 1953 Coup in Iran, Documentary Says
Historians who uncovered a message from "Queen Elizabeth" believe its misinterpretation helped persuade the shah not to flee Iran at a pivotal moment.
-
SOURCE: The Conversation
5/18/2020
Venezuela Failed Raid: US Has a History of Using Mercenaries to Undermine Other Regimes
by Andrew Thomson
The arrest of Silvercorp mercenaries in Venezuela echoes a long history of the U.S. government supporting private troops to overthrow foreign governments.
-
SOURCE: Washington Post
2/14/20
In 1933, two rebellious women bought a home in Virginia’s woods. Then the CIA moved in.
In the late 1950s, the CIA took over the land in Langley, Va., to build a headquarters that could accommodate its fast-growing operations.
-
SOURCE: Studies in Intelligence
2/10/10
"No Boy Scout": William Rust Publishes Article on CIA Operations Officer Lucien Conein
by William J. Rust
“No Boy Scout: CIA Operations Officer Lucien Conein” tells the story of a polarizing French-American paramilitary specialist who served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II and in its postwar successor agencies.
-
SOURCE: The Conversation
9/27/19
Spies in the White House Have a History of Running Wild Without Congressional Oversight
A former congressional staffer says withholding damning evidence from Congress and using civilians to carry out presidential or intelligence agency agendas links the Ukraine crisis to other scandals.
News
- The Debt Ceiling Law is now a Tool of Partisan Political Power; Abolish It
- Amitai Etzioni, Theorist of Communitarianism, Dies at 94
- Kagan, Sotomayor Join SCOTUS Cons in Sticking it to Unions
- New Evidence: Rehnquist Pretty Much OK with Plessy v. Ferguson
- Ohio Unions Link Academic Freedom and the Freedom to Strike
- First Round of Obama Administration Oral Histories Focus on Political Fault Lines and Policy Tradeoffs
- The Tulsa Race Massacre was an Attack on Black People; Rebuilding Policies were an Attack on Black Wealth
- British Universities are Researching Ties to Slavery. Conservative Alumni Say "Enough"
- Martha Hodes Reconstructs Her Memory of a 1970 Hijacking
- Jeremi Suri: Texas Higher Ed Conflict "Doesn't Have to Be This Way"
Trending Now
- New transcript of Ayn Rand at West Point in 1974 shows she claimed “savage" Indians had no right to live here just because they were born here
- The Mexican War Suggests Ukraine May End Up Conceding Crimea. World War I Suggests the Price May Be Tragic if it Doesn't
- The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of