John D. Marks
Encyclopedia
John D. Marks is the founder and President of Search for Common Ground, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC that focuses on international conflict management programming. He is also a former Foreign Service Officer of the United States Department of State
who co-authored the 1974 controversial non-fiction book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence
with Victor Marchetti
.
Marks worked for five years with the State Department, first in Vietnam and then as an analyst and staff assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research
. After leaving the State Department, he became Executive Assistant for foreign policy to US Senator Clifford Case (R-NJ), responsible within the Senator's office for passage of the Case-Church amendment, which eventually cut off funding for the Vietnam War. He also worked with Marchetti on a book about the need to reform the Central Intelligence Agency
. The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence was completed in 1973. CIA officials read the manuscript and told Marchetti and Marks that they had to remove 339 passages, nearly a fifth of the book. After long negotiations the CIA yielded on 171 items. That left 168 censored passages. The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf
, decided to go ahead and publish the book with blanks for those passages, and with the sections that the CIA had originally cut then restored printed in boldface. The publication of Marchetti's and Marks' censored book, which became a bestseller, raised concerns about the way the CIA was censoring information
. It contributed to investigative reports by Seymour Hersh
in The New York Times
and the decision by Frank Church
to establish the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities
in 1975. The report, Foreign and Military Intelligence, was published in 1976.
Marks' award-winning 1979 book, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate describes a wide range of CIA activities during the Cold War
, including unethical drug experiments in the context of a mind-control and chemical interrogation research program
. The book is based on 15,000 pages of CIA documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and many interviews, including those with retired members of the psychological division of the CIA, and the book describes some of the work of psychologists in this effort with a whole chapter on the Personality Assessment System
.
A graduate of Cornell University
, Marks later became a fellow of Harvard's Institute of Politics and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. In 1982, Mr. Marks founded the Nuclear Network in Washington, DC, which soon was renamed Search for Common Ground
.
Since 1982, Marks has been President of Search for Common Ground, a non-profit conflict resolution organization, now with offices in 25 countries. He also founded and heads Common Ground Productions. He wrote and produced The Shape of the Future, a four-part, TV documentary series that was simulcast on Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite TV, and he is executive producer of The Team TV and radio series in 17 countries and numerous other TV and radio programs.
Honors and Accolades
John Marks is the recipient of numerous awards.These include:
Honorary Doctorate from the UN University of Peace (2010- with his wife, Susan Collin Marks)
The Marvin E. Johnson Diversity and Equity Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (2010-with Susan Collin Marks)
Senior Ashoka Fellow (2009)
Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Skoll Foundation (2006-with Susan Collin Marks)
The Temple Awards for Creative Altruism from the Institute of Noetic Sciences (2005-with Susan Collin Marks)
Cultures of Peace Award from Psychologists for Social Responsibility (2002)
Wild School Award from Upland Hills School
(2001-with Susan Collin Marks)
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
who co-authored the 1974 controversial non-fiction book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence
The 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...
with Victor Marchetti
Victor Marchetti
Victor 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....
.
Marks worked for five years with the State Department, first in Vietnam and then as an analyst and staff assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research
Bureau of Intelligence and Research
The Bureau of Intelligence and Research is an intelligence bureau in the U.S. State Department tasked with analyzing information. Originally founded as the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services , it was transferred to the State Department at the end of World War II...
. After leaving the State Department, he became Executive Assistant for foreign policy to US Senator Clifford Case (R-NJ), responsible within the Senator's office for passage of the Case-Church amendment, which eventually cut off funding for the Vietnam War. He also worked with Marchetti on a book about the need to reform the 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...
. The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence was completed in 1973. CIA officials read the manuscript and told Marchetti and Marks that they had to remove 339 passages, nearly a fifth of the book. After long negotiations the CIA yielded on 171 items. That left 168 censored passages. The publisher, Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
, decided to go ahead and publish the book with blanks for those passages, and with the sections that the CIA had originally cut then restored printed in boldface. The publication of Marchetti's and Marks' censored book, which became a bestseller, raised concerns about the way the CIA was censoring information
CIA influence on public opinion
At various times, under its own authority or in accordance with directives from the President of the United States or the National Security Council staff, the Central Intelligence Agency has attempted to influence domestic and international public opinion, and sometimes law enforcement...
. It contributed to investigative reports by Seymour Hersh
Seymour 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...
in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and the decision by Frank Church
Frank Church
Frank Forrester Church III was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Idaho from 1957 to 1981....
to establish the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities
Church Committee
The 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...
in 1975. The report, Foreign and Military Intelligence, was published in 1976.
Marks' award-winning 1979 book, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate describes a wide range of CIA activities during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, including unethical drug experiments in the context of a mind-control and chemical interrogation research program
Project MKULTRA
Project 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...
. The book is based on 15,000 pages of CIA documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and many interviews, including those with retired members of the psychological division of the CIA, and the book describes some of the work of psychologists in this effort with a whole chapter on the Personality Assessment System
Personality Assessment System
The Personality Assessment System is a descriptive model of personality formulated by John W. Gittinger.The system has been used by scientists in studying personality and by clinicians in clinical practice....
.
A graduate of Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, Marks later became a fellow of Harvard's Institute of Politics and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. In 1982, Mr. Marks founded the Nuclear Network in Washington, DC, which soon was renamed Search for Common Ground
Search for Common Ground
Search for Common Ground is an international non-profit organization operating in nearly 30 countries whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict – away from adversarial approaches toward cooperative solutions. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with the majority of...
.
Since 1982, Marks has been President of Search for Common Ground, a non-profit conflict resolution organization, now with offices in 25 countries. He also founded and heads Common Ground Productions. He wrote and produced The Shape of the Future, a four-part, TV documentary series that was simulcast on Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite TV, and he is executive producer of The Team TV and radio series in 17 countries and numerous other TV and radio programs.
Honors and Accolades
John Marks is the recipient of numerous awards.These include:
Honorary Doctorate from the UN University of Peace (2010- with his wife, Susan Collin Marks)
The Marvin E. Johnson Diversity and Equity Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (2010-with Susan Collin Marks)
Senior Ashoka Fellow (2009)
Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Skoll Foundation (2006-with Susan Collin Marks)
The Temple Awards for Creative Altruism from the Institute of Noetic Sciences (2005-with Susan Collin Marks)
Cultures of Peace Award from Psychologists for Social Responsibility (2002)
Wild School Award from Upland Hills School
Upland Hills School
Upland Hills School, founded in 1971, is an independent school community whose purpose is to educate pre-high school children. The school's aim is to discover and respect the uniqueness of every child.- Location :...
(2001-with Susan Collin Marks)