Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency)
Encyclopedia
The Family Jewels is the informal name used to refer to a set of reports that detail activities conducted by the United States
Central Intelligence Agency
. Considered illegal or inappropriate, these actions were conducted over the span of decades, from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. William Colby
, who was the CIA director in the mid-1970s and helped in the compilation of the reports, dubbed them the "skeletons" in the CIA's closet. Most of the documents were publicly released on June 25, 2007, after more than three decades of secrecy. The non-governmental National Security Archive
had filed a FOIA
request fifteen years earlier.
James R. Schlesinger
, in response to press accounts of CIA involvement in the Watergate scandal
— in particular, support to the burglars, E. Howard Hunt
and James McCord, both CIA veterans. On May 7, 1973, Schlesinger signed a directive commanding senior officers to compile a report of current or past CIA actions that may have fallen outside the agency's charter. The resulting report, which was in the form of a 693-page loose-leaf book of memos, was passed on to William Colby
when he succeeded Schlesinger as Director of Central Intelligence in late 1973.
revealed some of the contents of the "Family Jewels" in a front-page New York Times article in December 1974, in which he reported that:
Additional details of the contents trickled out over the years, but requests by journalists and historians for access to the documents under the Freedom of Information Act
were long denied. Finally, in June 2007, CIA Director Michael Hayden announced that the documents would be released to the public at an announcement made to the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. A six-page summary of the reports was made available at the National Security Archive
(based at George Washington University
), with the following introduction:
The complete set of documents, with some redactions (including a number of pages in their entirety), was released on the CIA website on June 25, 2007.
to the Justice Department
on December 31, 1974, these included 18 issues which were of legal concern:
operation concerning training foreign police in bomb-making, sabotage, etc. (one quotes Dan Mitrione
, responsible for the Office of Public Safety
in Uruguay
, and a torture
expert who coordinated police forces in South America
).
It also highlights equipment support to local police, which could have been considered illegal under the National Security Act of 1947
(page 6).
The Family Jewels also document the infiltration and surveillance of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
(BNDD), the predecessor to the DEA
, on requests of the BNDD's director in order to root out corruption from among its ranks.
The CIA also surveilled black nationalism
in the Caribbean
and in the US, producing two memorandums in 1969 and 1970 (p. 188). It focused primarily on Stokely Carmichael
's visits to the Caribbean Islands, and concluded that there was no "evidence of important links between militant blacks in the US and the Caribbean." A copy of these reports "was inadvertently sent to the FBI."
After FBI's director John Edgar Hoover's public statement that "the Black Panthers are supported by terrorist organizations," the CIA responded in December 1970 that they "found no indication of any relationship between the fedayeen
and the Black Panthers." (p. 283)
Apart from surveilling student activism
in the US (in particular the Students for a Democratic Society
, SDS), the CIA also had surveys in 19 countries, from Argentina
to Yugoslavia
(p. 191).
The CIA requested to the Department of Agriculture
(USDA) "the establishment of a two-acre plot of opium poppies at a USDA research site in Washington, to be used for tests of photo-recognition of opium poppies" (p. 246). The agency was then investigating into multi-spectral sensors
(p. 254 and 257).
Some pages are also dedicated to the Pentagon Papers
(p. 288 sq.), leaked in 1971 by Daniel Ellsberg
who became the subject of focused attention.
, Fidel Castro
, who was the target of multiple CIA assassination attempts reported in these documents, responded to their release on July 1, 2007, saying that the United States was still a "killing machine" and that the revealing of the documents was an attempt at diversion. Some commentators, including David Corn
and Amy Zegart
, noted that one key 'jewel' had been redacted and remained classified.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
. Considered illegal or inappropriate, these actions were conducted over the span of decades, from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. William Colby
William Colby
William Egan Colby spent a career in intelligence for the United States, culminating in holding the post of Director of Central Intelligence from September 1973, to January 1976....
, who was the CIA director in the mid-1970s and helped in the compilation of the reports, dubbed them the "skeletons" in the CIA's closet. Most of the documents were publicly released on June 25, 2007, after more than three decades of secrecy. The non-governmental National Security Archive
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501 non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located in the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1985 by Scott Armstrong, it archives and publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of US...
had filed a FOIA
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
request fifteen years earlier.
Background
The reports that constitute the CIA's "Family Jewels" were commissioned in 1973 by then CIA directorDirector of Central Intelligence
The Office of United States Director of Central Intelligence was the head of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the principal intelligence advisor to the President and the National Security Council, and the coordinator of intelligence activities among and between the various United...
James R. Schlesinger
James R. Schlesinger
Dr. James Rodney Schlesinger is an American politician. He is best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
, in response to press accounts of CIA involvement in the Watergate scandal
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
— in particular, support to the burglars, E. Howard Hunt
E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. Hunt, with G...
and James McCord, both CIA veterans. On May 7, 1973, Schlesinger signed a directive commanding senior officers to compile a report of current or past CIA actions that may have fallen outside the agency's charter. The resulting report, which was in the form of a 693-page loose-leaf book of memos, was passed on to William Colby
William Colby
William Egan Colby spent a career in intelligence for the United States, culminating in holding the post of Director of Central Intelligence from September 1973, to January 1976....
when he succeeded Schlesinger as Director of Central Intelligence in late 1973.
Leaks and official release
Investigative journalist Seymour HershSeymour Hersh
Seymour Myron Hersh is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine on military and security matters...
revealed some of the contents of the "Family Jewels" in a front-page New York Times article in December 1974, in which he reported that:
The Central Intelligence Agency, directly violating its charter, conducted a massive, illegal domestic intelligence operation during the Nixon Administration against the antiwar movement and other dissidentDissidentA dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
groups in the United States according to well-placed Government sources.
Additional details of the contents trickled out over the years, but requests by journalists and historians for access to the documents under the Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
were long denied. Finally, in June 2007, CIA Director Michael Hayden announced that the documents would be released to the public at an announcement made to the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. A six-page summary of the reports was made available at the National Security Archive
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501 non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located in the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1985 by Scott Armstrong, it archives and publishes declassified U.S. government files concerning selected topics of US...
(based at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
), with the following introduction:
The Central Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations of illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassinationAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
plots, and human experimentationHuman experimentationHuman subject research includes experiments and observational studies. Human subjects are commonly participants in research on basic biology, clinical medicine, nursing, psychology, and all other social sciences. Humans have been participants in research since the earliest studies...
led to official investigations and reforms in the 1970s.
The complete set of documents, with some redactions (including a number of pages in their entirety), was released on the CIA website on June 25, 2007.
Content
The reports describe numerous activities conducted by the CIA during the 1950s to 1970s that violated its charter. According to a briefing provided by CIA Director William ColbyWilliam Colby
William Egan Colby spent a career in intelligence for the United States, culminating in holding the post of Director of Central Intelligence from September 1973, to January 1976....
to the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
on December 31, 1974, these included 18 issues which were of legal concern:
- Confinement of a KGBKGBThe KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
defector, Yuri Ivanovich NosenkoYuri NosenkoLt. Col. Yuri Ivanovich Nosenko was a KGB defector and a figure of significant controversy within the U.S. intelligence community, since his claims contradicted another defector, Anatoliy Golitsyn, who believed he was a KGB plant...
, that "might be regarded as a violation of the kidnapping laws." - Wiretapping of two syndicated columnists, Robert AllenRobert AllenRobert Allen may refer to:*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Tennessee*Robert Allen , American Congressman from Virginia*Robert Allen , American Civil War general...
and Paul ScottPaul ScottPaul Mark Scott was a British novelist, playwright, and poet, best known for his monumental tetralogy the Raj Quartet. His novel Staying On won the Booker Prize for 1977.-Early life:...
, speculated to have been approved by US Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamaraRobert McNamaraRobert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
(see also Project Mockingbird) - Physical surveillanceSurveillanceSurveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
of investigative journalist and muckraker Jack Anderson and his associates, including Les Whitten of the Washington Post and future Fox News ChannelFox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
anchor and managing editorManaging editorA managing editor is a senior member of a publication's management team.In the United States, a managing editor oversees and coordinates the publication's editorial activities...
Brit HumeBrit HumeBrit Hume is an American television journalist and political commentator.For twenty years he was a correspondent for the American Broadcasting Company, including Chief White House Correspondent. He then spent ten years as the Washington, D.C. managing editor of the Fox News Channel and the anchor...
. Jack Anderson had written two articles on CIA-backed assassinationAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
attempts on CubaCubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n leader Fidel CastroFidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011... - Physical surveillance of then-Washington Post reporter Michael GetlerMichael GetlerMichael Getler is an American journalist and ombudsman for the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States. He is the first holder of this post, and the first ombudsman to be appointed at any of the major American television networks...
, who later was an ombudsman for the Washington Post and PBS - Break-in at the home of a former CIA employee
- Break-in at the office of a former defector
- Warrantless entry into the apartment of a former CIA employee
- Opening of mail to and from the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
from 1953 to 1973 (including letters associated with actress Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
) (project SRPOINTER/HTLINGUALHTLINGUALHTLINGUAL was a secret Central Intelligence Agency project to intercept mail destined for the Soviet Union and China that operated from 1952 until 1973. Originally known under the codename SRPOINTER , the project authority was changed in 1955 and renamed...
at JFK airport) - Opening of mail to and from the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
from 1969 to 1972 (project SRPOINTER/HTLINGUALHTLINGUALHTLINGUAL was a secret Central Intelligence Agency project to intercept mail destined for the Soviet Union and China that operated from 1952 until 1973. Originally known under the codename SRPOINTER , the project authority was changed in 1955 and renamed...
at JFK airport - see also Project SHAMROCKProject SHAMROCKProject SHAMROCK, considered to be the sister project for Project MINARET, was an espionage exercise that involved the accumulation of all telegraphic data entering into or exiting from the United States...
by the NSA) - Funding of behavior modificationBehavior modificationBehavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of...
research on unwitting US citizens, including unscientific, non-consensual human experiments. (see also Project MKULTRAProject MKULTRAProject MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...
concerning LSDLSDLysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
experiments) - Assassination plots against Cuban President Fidel Castro (authorized by Robert Kennedy); CongoleseDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
leader Patrice LumumbaPatrice LumumbaPatrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium in June 1960. Only ten weeks later, Lumumba's government was deposed in a coup during the Congo Crisis...
; President Rafael TrujilloRafael Leónidas TrujilloRafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina , nicknamed El Jefe , ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. He officially served as president from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, otherwise ruling as an unelected military strongman...
of the Dominican RepublicDominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
; and René SchneiderRené SchneiderGeneral René Schneider Chereau was the commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army at the time of the 1970 Chilean presidential election, when he was assassinated during a botched kidnapping attempt. His murder virtually assured Salvador Allende's eventual overthrow and death in a coup three years later...
, Commander-in-chief of the ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an Army. All of these plots were said to be unsuccessful ones. - Surveillance of dissident groups between 1967 and 1971 (see Project RESISTANCEProject RESISTANCEProject RESISTANCE was a domestic espionage operation coordinated under the Domestic Operations Division of the CIA. Its purpose was to collect background information on groups around the U.S. that might pose threats to CIA facilities and personnel...
, Project MERRIMACProject MERRIMACProject MERRIMAC was a domestic espionage operation coordinated under the Office of Security of the CIA. It involved information gathering procedures via infiltration and surveillance on Washington-based anti-war groups that might pose potential threats to the CIA. However, the type of data...
and Operation CHAOSOperation CHAOS]Operation CHAOS or Operation MHCHAOS was the code name for a domestic espionage project conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency. A department within the CIA was established in 1967 on orders from President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson and later expanded under President Richard Nixon...
) - Surveillance of a particular Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n female, and of US citizens in Detroit - Surveillance of former CIA officer and Agency critic, Victor MarchettiVictor MarchettiVictor Marchetti is a former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a prominent paleoconservative critic of the United States Intelligence Community and the Israel lobby in the United States....
, author of the book, The CIA and the Cult of IntelligenceThe CIA and the Cult of IntelligenceThe CIA and the Cult of Intelligence is a 1974 controversial non-fiction political book written by Victor Marchetti, a former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and John D. Marks, a former officer of the United States Department of State.The authors claim...
, published in 1974. - Amassing of files on 9,900-plus US citizens related to the antiwar movementOpposition to the Vietnam WarThe movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...
(see Project RESISTANCEProject RESISTANCEProject RESISTANCE was a domestic espionage operation coordinated under the Domestic Operations Division of the CIA. Its purpose was to collect background information on groups around the U.S. that might pose threats to CIA facilities and personnel...
, Project MERRIMACProject MERRIMACProject MERRIMAC was a domestic espionage operation coordinated under the Office of Security of the CIA. It involved information gathering procedures via infiltration and surveillance on Washington-based anti-war groups that might pose potential threats to the CIA. However, the type of data...
and Operation CHAOSOperation CHAOS]Operation CHAOS or Operation MHCHAOS was the code name for a domestic espionage project conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency. A department within the CIA was established in 1967 on orders from President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson and later expanded under President Richard Nixon...
) - PolygraphPolygraphA polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
experiments with the sheriff of San Mateo County, CaliforniaSan Mateo County, CaliforniaSan Mateo County is a county located in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. It covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula just south of San Francisco, and north of Santa Clara County. San Francisco International Airport is located at the northern end of the county, and... - Fake CIA identification documents that might violate state laws
- Testing of electronic equipment on US telephone circuits
Others
The documents also include Watergate-related items (p. 350-351) as well as a joint USAID-OPSOffice of Public Safety
The Office of Public Safety was a US government agency, established in 1957 by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower to train police forces of US allies. It was officially part of USAID , and was close to the Central Intelligence Agency . Police-training teams were sent to South Vietnam, Iran, Taiwan,...
operation concerning training foreign police in bomb-making, sabotage, etc. (one quotes Dan Mitrione
Dan Mitrione
Daniel A. Mitrione was an Italian-born American police officer, Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and a United States government advisor for the Central Intelligence Agency in Latin America.- Career :...
, responsible for the Office of Public Safety
Office of Public Safety
The Office of Public Safety was a US government agency, established in 1957 by US President Dwight D. Eisenhower to train police forces of US allies. It was officially part of USAID , and was close to the Central Intelligence Agency . Police-training teams were sent to South Vietnam, Iran, Taiwan,...
in Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, and a torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
expert who coordinated police forces in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
).
It also highlights equipment support to local police, which could have been considered illegal under the National Security Act of 1947
National Security Act of 1947
The National Security Act of 1947 was signed by United States President Harry S. Truman on July 26, 1947, and realigned and reorganized the U.S. Armed Forces, foreign policy, and Intelligence Community apparatus in the aftermath of World War II...
(page 6).
The Family Jewels also document the infiltration and surveillance of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was a predecessor agency of the Drug Enforcement Administration . It was formed as a subsidiary of the United States Department of Justice in 1968, combining the Bureau of Narcotics and Bureau of Drug Abuse Control The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous...
(BNDD), the predecessor to the DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
, on requests of the BNDD's director in order to root out corruption from among its ranks.
The CIA also surveilled black nationalism
Black nationalism
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
and in the US, producing two memorandums in 1969 and 1970 (p. 188). It focused primarily on Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael
Kwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...
's visits to the Caribbean Islands, and concluded that there was no "evidence of important links between militant blacks in the US and the Caribbean." A copy of these reports "was inadvertently sent to the FBI."
After FBI's director John Edgar Hoover's public statement that "the Black Panthers are supported by terrorist organizations," the CIA responded in December 1970 that they "found no indication of any relationship between the fedayeen
Fedayeen
Fedayeen is a term used to describe several distinct militant groups and individuals in West Asia at different times in history. It is sometimes used colloquially to refer to suicide squads, especially those who are not bombers.-Overview:...
and the Black Panthers." (p. 283)
Apart from surveilling student activism
Student activism
Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. It has often focused on making changes in schools, such as increasing student influence over curriculum or improving educational funding...
in the US (in particular the Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
, SDS), the CIA also had surveys in 19 countries, from Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
to Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
(p. 191).
The CIA requested to the Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
(USDA) "the establishment of a two-acre plot of opium poppies at a USDA research site in Washington, to be used for tests of photo-recognition of opium poppies" (p. 246). The agency was then investigating into multi-spectral sensors
Image sensor
An image sensor is a device that converts an optical image into an electronic signal. It is used mostly in digital cameras and other imaging devices...
(p. 254 and 257).
Some pages are also dedicated to the Pentagon Papers
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967...
(p. 288 sq.), leaked in 1971 by Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg, PhD, is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War,...
who became the subject of focused attention.
Reactions to release of documents
Then-President of CubaCuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, who was the target of multiple CIA assassination attempts reported in these documents, responded to their release on July 1, 2007, saying that the United States was still a "killing machine" and that the revealing of the documents was an attempt at diversion. Some commentators, including David Corn
David Corn
David Corn is an American political journalist and author and the chief of the Washington bureau for Mother Jones. He has been Washington editor for The Nation and appeared regularly on FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and BloggingHeads.tv opposite James Pinkerton or other media...
and Amy Zegart
Amy Zegart
Amy B. Zegart is a tenured Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, where she is a leading national expert on the United States Intelligence Community and national security policy...
, noted that one key 'jewel' had been redacted and remained classified.
See also
- Church CommitteeChurch CommitteeThe Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975. A precursor to the U.S...
- Pike Committee
- United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United StatesUnited States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United StatesThe U.S. President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States was set up under President Gerald Ford in 1975 to investigate the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies within the United States...
(Rockefeller Commission) - Richard HelmsRichard HelmsRichard McGarrah Helms was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1966 to 1973. He was the only director to have been convicted of lying to the United States Congress over Central Intelligence Agency undercover activities. In 1977, he was sentenced to the maximum fine and received a suspended...
- COINTELPROCOINTELPROCOINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
- Kerry Committee reportKerry Committee reportThe Kerry Committee report were hearings chaired by Senator John Kerry which found the United States Department of State had paid drug traffickers. Some of these payments were after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges or while traffickers were...
- Operation NorthwoodsOperation NorthwoodsOperation Northwoods was a series of false-flag proposals that originated within the United States government in 1962. The proposals called for the Central Intelligence Agency , or other operatives, to commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and elsewhere...