John Stockwell
Overview
 
John R. Stockwell is a former CIA
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...

 officer who became a critic of United States government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

 policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of duty
Tour of duty
In the Navy, a tour of duty is a period of time spent performing operational duties at sea, including combat, performing patrol or fleet duties, or assigned to service in a foreign country....

. After managing U.S. involvement in the Angolan Civil War
Angolan Civil War
The Angolan Civil War was a major civil conflict in the Southern African state of Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with some interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. Prior to this, a decolonisation conflict had taken...

 as Chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...

 of the Angola Task Force during its 1975 covert operations, he resigned and wrote In Search of Enemies, a book which remains the only detailed, insider's account of a major CIA "covert action."
Born in Angleton, Texas
Angleton, Texas
Angleton is a city in and the county seat of Brazoria County, Texas, United States, within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. Angleton lies at the intersection of State Highway 288, State Highway 35, and the Union Pacific Railroad. The population was 18,130 at the 2000 census...

, his Presbyterian father moved the family to the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...

 so that he could provide engineering assistance.
Quotations

The KGB|KGB is by far the world's largest, the Mossad|Israeli probably the best, and the Iranian and the South Korean the deadliest.

Comparing the countries' secret services

The CIA|CIA maintains prepackaged stocks of foreign weapons for instant shipment anywhere in the world.

Commenting on US shipment of arms to Africa

A strongly antiagency ambassador can make problems for the CIA chief of station.

In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story, "Footsoldiers of foreign policy"; ISBN 0393057054

The men who control the CIA are of an older, conservative generation which has kept the agency fifteen or twenty years behind the progress of the nation at large.

Commenting on discrimination in the CIA

Case officers are subject to the same embarassments any tourist suffers-snarled schedules, lost passports, lost money and luggage, and getting off the plane at the wrong destination

In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story, "Kinshasa"; ISBN 0393057054

Customs and immigrations officials are trained to detect the unusual. In some countries they are especially alert to CIA officers

In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story, "Kinshasa"; ISBN 0393057054

I once watched an angry Zairian official very nearly strip and search the person of a CIA GS 17 who had forgotten to speak politely

GS 17 is a very high ranking CIA officer

Case officers most fear the US ambassador and his staff, then restrictive headquarters cables, then curious gossipy neighbours in the local community, as potential threats to the operation. Next would come the local police, then the press. Last of all is the KGB.

In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story, "Kinshasa"; ISBN 0393057054

 
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