CIA to Reveal ‘Skeletons’
Agency to declassify records of abuses, from domestic spying to assassination attempts
WASHINGTON - The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency’s worst illegal abuses — the so-called “family jewels” documenting a quarter-century of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping and infiltration of leftist groups from the 1950s to the 1970s, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Thursday.
The documents, to be publicly released next week, also include accounts of break-ins and theft, the agency’s opening of private mail to and from China and the Soviet Union, wiretaps and surveillance of journalists, and a series of “unwitting” tests on U.S. civilians, including the use of drugs. 
“Most of it is unflattering, but it is CIA’s history,” Hayden said in a speech to a conference of foreign policy historians. The documents have been sought for decades by historians, journalists and conspiracy theorists and have been the subject of many fruitless Freedom of Information Act requests.
In anticipation of the CIA’s release, the National Security Archive at George Washington University on Thursday published a separate set of documents from January 1975 detailing internal government deliberations of the abuses. Those documents portray a rising sense of panic within the administration of President Ford that what then-CIA Director William Colby called “skeletons” in the CIA’s closet had begun to be revealed in news accounts.
An article about the CIA’s infiltration of anti-war groups, published by New York Times reporter Seymour Hersh in December 1974, was “just the tip of the iceberg,” then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned Ford, according to a Jan. 3, 1975, memorandum of their conversation.
Most of the major incidents and operations in the reports to be released next week were revealed in varying detail during congressional investigations that led to widespread intelligence reforms and increased oversight. But the trove of CIA documents, generated as the Vietnam War wound down and agency involvement in President Richard Nixon’s “dirty tricks” political campaign began to be revealed, is expected to provide far more comprehensive accounts, written by the agency itself.
The reports, known collectively by historians and CIA officials as “the family jewels,” were initially produced in response to a 1973 request by then-CIA Director James Schlesinger. Alarmed by press accounts of CIA involvement in Watergate under his predecessor, Schlesinger asked the agency’s employees to inform him of all operations that were “outside” the agency’s legal charter.
This process was unprecedented at the agency, where only a few officials had previously been privy to the scope of its illegal activities. Schlesinger collected the reports, some of which dated back to the 1950s, in a folder that was inherited by his successor, Colby, in September of that year.
But it was not until Hersh’s story that Colby took the file to the White House. The National Security Archive release included a six-page summary of a Jan. 3, 1975, conversation in which Colby briefed the Justice Department for the first time on the extent of the “skeletons.”
Operations listed in the report began in 1953, when the CIA’s counterintelligence staff started a 20-year program to screen and in some cases open mail between the United States and the Soviet Union passing through a New York airport. A similar program in San Francisco intercepted mail to and from China from 1969 to 1972. Under its charter, the CIA is prohibited from domestic operations.
Among several new details, the summary document reveals a 1969 program about CIA efforts against “the international activities of radicals and black militants.” Undercover CIA agents were placed inside U.S. peace groups and sent abroad as credentialed members to identify any foreign contacts. This came at a time when the Soviet Union was suspected of financing and influencing U.S. domestic organizations.
The program included “information on the domestic activities” of the organizations and led to the accumulation of 10,000 American names.
Other “skeletons” listed in the summary included the “very productive” 1963 wiretapping of two columnists — Robert Allen and Paul Scott — whose conversations included talks with 12 Senators and six congressmen; and the “personal surveillances” for two months in 1972 of muckraking columnist Jack Anderson and staff members, including Les Whitten and Brit Hume, and of Washington Post reporter Mike Getler between October 1971 and April 1972.
The CIA documents scheduled for release next week, Hayden said Thursday, “provide a glimpse of a very different time and a very different agency.”
Barred by secrecy restrictions from correcting “misinformation,” he said, the CIA is at the mercy of the press. “Unfortunately, there seems to be an instinct among some in the media today to take a few pieces of information, which may or may not be accurate, and run with them to the darkest corner of the room,” Hayden said.
Hayden’s speech and some of the questions that followed evoked more recent criticism of the intelligence community, which has been accused of illegal wiretapping, infiltration of anti-war groups and the kidnapping and torturing of terrorism suspects.
“It’s surely part of (Hayden’s) program now to draw a bright line with the past,” said National Security Archive Director Thomas Blanton. “But it’s uncanny how the government keeps dipping into the black bag.” Newly revealed details of ancient CIA operations, Blanton said, “are pretty resonant today.”
© 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Again this is what the government DID and was CAPABLE of doing thirty years ago, what we need is to KNOW what they are doing TODAY! Cheney is avoiding inspection saying he is not subject to the requests for information since he is not part of the Executive Branch which is one of the most blatant bold face lies he has touted.
You’re right. A handful of Antique Secrets won’t change anything. What about revealing the truth about the psychotic monkey and the ugly fat man; and, what did they know and disregard over the last 7 years? What were Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz doing behind the scenes?
To place the CIA’s function within its social, economic and political context, it is important to first describe the world hierarchy of production. I describe or model it as a power pyramid.
On top of the pyramid are the Masters (whom I call the “Heads”). The members of this group formulate policies in order to make sure most of the world economy’s benefits accrue to them.
Various middle layer personnel are identified by me as “Overseers”. Organizations and members of this group are delegated enough power by the Masters in order to oversee the Master’s machines, money, manpower, mass mind manipulation, etc. This group acts as the Master’s “Arms” and “Eyes”.
If the CIA, for example, starts to see attempts by lower-level individuals, groups and/or countries to gain more benefits and thus redirect more costs toward both the Masters and Overseers, then their “arm” is put in motion…the arm proceeds to crush any of the above lower-level activities.
Of course, those individuals, groups, and nations on the bottom of the power pyramid are the “Slaves”. These people -the vast majority of the world population- recieve most of the costs of the international hierarchy of production…and very few of its benefits.
Much of the world economy’s expenditures are invested in both the technologies and overseer manpower needed to keep the slaves in their place. Thus, I categorize those at the bottom of the world power pyramid as “Hands”.
They are to take orders and not give them. They are to take the negative feedback of the system -or costs- and not intefer with the lion’s share of the system’s benefits going up the pyramid.
If all nations were “communist” or “socialist” were unequal in power and wealth, the same power pyramid would be in place. It would still be a capitalist world-economy.
Cheney was Nixon’s chief of staff when much of these dirty tricks were going on. He’s been chafing at the bit to get back to these so-call “good-old-days” of unchecked executive power, secrecy, and god knows what else.
Some things never change…. the devil is still in charge after all these years
“a very different time and a very different agency.”
Yes, I’m sure they don’t do ANYTHING like that now!
Why are they doing this NOW??!! TO SCARE THE F*CK OUT OF PEOPLE!!! To Terrorize the People to get them ready for the Terrors to Come!
Read my blogspot http://www.hiddenmurder.blogspot.com
I think it would be fascinating after reading the documents to compare notes with former CIA agent Philip Agee’s book “Inside the Company: CIA Diary” and if what he wrote shows up in the declassified documents the man should be vindicated in the press. That is if there is a shred of decency left in the US press, which I don’t see that there is.
And don’t forget that shadow government we’ve heard nothing about since it was exposed several years ago… where do you think social parasites like sNewt Gingrich have been all this time? Sure he rears his ugly head on occasion but don’t discount the evil intent of that evildoer and the evil empire he serves…
The CIA was the same agency that ARMED, TRAINED, and FINANCED OSAMA BIN LADEN and his followers. Even today, the CIA heavily ARMS, TRAINS, AND FINANCES major TERRORIST groups including AL-QUAIDA ! ABOLISH THE CIA !!!!
I strongly recommend reading Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, by William Blum. All Americans should know the extent of the regime’s crimes.
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Hope-Military-Interventions-Since/dp/1567510523
The CIA is not likely to reveal anything of substance, except that which will support the propaganda of the current Junta. President Kennedy wanted to shut down the CIA shortly before he was assassinated, and that may be why he was…. read David Scheim: Contract on America, and Jonathan Bloch: KGB/CIA.
The CIA was involved in Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the fake Bush elections, nearly always in service to the Republican Party since its birth (as explained in Bloch’s book, as well as Scheim’s) in addition to the dirty tricks overseas. The CIA is the Republican’s ‘ace in the hole’, their main key to running the country even when Democrats are in power. When it was named ‘CIA’ Harry Truman admonished ‘We don’t need another Gestapo’. James Carter tried to defuse its power, to no avail, as it again thrived under the Bush-run Reagan administration. The CIA is the Bush’s pet, all the way back to Prescott and possibly his dad. Get rid of the CIA (as Kennedy planned to do), replace it with an agency accountable in every way to elected officials, and the Bush machine is dead. It was first run by billionaire William Donovan and the Vandenburgs (read Bloch’s book). Let it live, and the Republican fascist machine that the Bushes have fed on for generations lives on.
CIA = PLUTOCRACY = NO DEMOCRACY.
This is a very hopeful and interesting move. I don’t think that all of those in the “intelligence” field are bad guys. Surely at least 10% of them are as appalled by the outright barbarism of the Bush regime & the American empire as we are.
It seems likely that many of them are victims of propaganda, just like millions of Americans - who actually believe that the department of defense is really a defense mechanism, or that the invasion of Iraq was a legit aspect of a genuine war on terror. Surely some of them want to see world peace as much as many of us.
They have a lot of power, that they should use for the common good. It would be most helpful if they find ways that would help us to get all the corrupt politicians out of office, shut down the military industrial complex, and sabotage republican efforts to fix the upcoming presidential elections.
The world seems to be stretched to the breaking point. Something’s going to have to give and soon! Most of the bastards of both parties that are in power (who support the occupation) are rotten to the core. If the USA doesn’t make some big changes in it’s attitude, it will probably lead to global nuclear disaster - the armageddon that the far right is apparently expecting. Change/agents and real heros are needed now!
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“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today.”
Theodore Roosevelt
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Philip Agee
CIA Diary Inside the Company, Excerpts from the book Third World Traveler
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA/CIA_Diary_Agee.html
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They’re pedaling this tripe to make us think we’ve got a newer/better/more open/citizen friendly/Constitution obeying/gentler Agency today? Gimme a huge Paul Bunyan Break! “Renditions”, Gitmo, waterboarding, warrantless domestic searches&eavesdropping, and these are just some of the things that we KNOW are going on! What a weak feeble attempt as a distraction tactic! Some little crumb thrown to the masses to make them feel the NEWER BETTER IMPROVED MODEL IS OUR FRIEND - SOMETHING WE CAN TRUST! Sorry Guys. Try again - THIS BOAT DON’T FLOAT.
I’m assuming the report will include the overthrows of the governments of Iran, Guatemala and Chile. The overthrow of governments has been going on long before the CIA. Read Stephen Kinzer’s “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime from Hawaii to Iraq”.
Also, be prepared for the defense of these actions by the neocons, partially based on Jeanne Kirkpatrick’s theories. “What a wonderful world.”
This is a ploy to make it appear that all such illegal activities are behind them and that the CIA now is a ‘clean’ law-abiding organization. This is very far from the truth. During the Bush years, the CIA has been responsible for assasinations of foreign leaders as well as abduction and torture of innocent civilians.
Sure, there are decent and honest people in the CIA…. there have to be in order to make it look good. But the organization at its core is rotten and corrupt and part and parcel of the big now-mafia-controlled greed machine at the core of the Republican Party…. again, read J Bloch: KGB/CIA, which gives the CIA’s history and origins…. the book is essential to understanding the roots, purpose, and continuity of the organization. Nominally set up for foreign intervention, it has indeed done that as some of you guys mention above, including some nasty fascist coups. But there is a commonly-believed myth that the CIA operates only overseas, which is way far from the truth. It the single most powerful diabolic political force inside the United States, the legalized front with legal immunity for the shadow government in its historical form described earlier by Teddy Roosevelt, then Dwight Eisenhower again when he left office. It wreaked havoc for Kennedy, and humiliated Carter, both of whom tried to clean it up. It gets away with murder because it has all the secrecy privileges… and it is precisely what has Bush and Cheney clamoring of immunity from the Constitution right now…. it’s Their Organization (shared with others of their ilk). Whenever Democratic presidents were in office, CIA operations taper back and go undercover… and when Republicans rule, it goes full speed ahead, unthrottled, except perhaps under Eisenhower… like creating many of the terrorist incidents in the Mideast and domestically. Many of the plans are made at the Bohemian Grove Big Boy Club, with Republicans pulling the strings, and Democrats there to make it look bi-partisan.
Bloch explains how the CIA vacillates in strategy depending on which party is in power…. they have Republican Admin free mode, and Democratic Admin covert mode.
They Are Now the Gestapo, but with who knows what overlapping with the new Homeland Security ‘Corporation’ (privately hired detectives?) created by the Bush Junta.
America under is undoubtedly the revived Third Reich. Will we stop it before it goes as far as Hitler did? If not, who will intervene like Roosevelt did? Are there any politicians with any clout and his sense of humanity, social conscience, and sense of democracy, remaining?
CIA is bullcrap!
- they “investigated” (read: tried to intimidate) me in August of 2001 after my heavy website criticism of FOX News (FOX illegally hired the CIA chief counterterrorism psychologist, Dr. R. Scott Shumate after I complained that a FOX reporter had asked me to steal someone’s e-mail for her upcoming news story).
- I went to a great law school, studied patent law etc. and
I recently filed a FOIA request with CIA asking them what the hell they were doing in 2001, (a) protecting a private news organization; (b) against a domestic U.S. citizen. First, they took way longer than the law allows to respond; then, they called me and told me I need to supply them with Dr. Shumate’s date of birth (huh?); and (c), now they just summarily denied my request “for national security reasons”. How the hell is their attempted intimidation of a patriotic midwesterner who criticized FOX News have to do with national security? I’m politically conservative, passed the bar exam, and my family settled America in 1651.
- I have 45 days to appeal the FOIA denial. Looks like we’re heading to federal court, so a judge can continue the CIA’s cover-up in this case.
- BTW, Shumate was one of the Guantanamo psychologists who were interrogating enemy combatants; now, a lot of members of the APA (American Psychological Association) have written a letter protesting his activities. He went on to work with DoD CIFA (Counterintelligence Field Activities).
Boyrobot