Philip Agee
Encyclopedia
Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (July 19, 1935 – January 7, 2008) was a Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) case officer and writer, best known as author of the 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in the CIA. Agee joined the CIA in 1957, and over the following decade had postings in Washington, D.C.
, Ecuador
, Uruguay
and Mexico
. After resigning from the Agency in 1968, he became a leading opponent of CIA practices. A co-founder of CovertAction Quarterly
, he died in Cuba
in January 2008.
. He graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame
in 1956, and attended the University of Florida College of Law.
leading to his disillusionment with the CIA and its support for authoritarian governments across Latin America
. He and other dissidents took encouragement in their stand from the Church Committee
(1975-76), which cast a critical light on the role of the CIA in assassinations, domestic espionage, and other illegal activities.
In the book Agee condemned the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre
in Mexico City
and wrote that this was the immediate event precipitating his leaving the agency.
While Agee claimed that the CIA was "very pleased with his work", offered him "another promotion" and his superior "was startled" when Agee told him about his plans to resign, the anti-communist journalist John Barron
claims that Agee's resignation was forced "for a variety of reasons, including his irresponsible drinking, continuous and vulgar propositioning of embassy wives, and inability to manage his finances".
Agee was accused by U.S. President George H. W. Bush
of being responsible for the death of Richard Welch
, a Harvard-educated classicist who was murdered by the Revolutionary Organization 17 November
while heading the CIA Station in Athens
. Bush had directed the CIA from 1976 to 1977.
, former head of the KGB
’s Counterintelligence Directorate, states that in 1973 Agee approached the KGB's resident in Mexico City
and offered a "treasure trove
of information". The KGB was too suspicious to accept his offer.
Kalugin states that:
For his part, Agee claimed in his later work On the Run that he had no intention of ever working for the KGB, which he still considered the enemy, and that he worked with the Cubans to assist left-wing and labour organizations in Latin America against fascism and CIA meddling in political affairs.
While Agee was writing Inside the Company: CIA Diary, the KGB kept in contact with him through Edgar Anatolvevich Cheporov, a London correspondent of the Novosti News Agency.
Agee was accused of receiving up to $1 million in payments from the Cuban intelligence service. He denied the accusations, which were first made by a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer and defector in a 1992 Los Angeles Times
report.
A later Los Angeles Times
article stated that Agee posed as a CIA Inspector General in order to target a member of the CIA's Mexico City station on behalf of Cuban intelligence. According to the article, Agee was identified during a meeting by a CIA case officer.
, while Agee was living in London
. Playboy Magazine (August 1975) published excerpts from his book in the article titled "What You Still Don't Know About The CIA! Ex-Company Man Philip Agee Tells All".
Agee acknowledged that "Representatives of the Communist Party of Cuba
also gave important encouragement at a time when I doubted that I would be able to find the additional information I needed."
The London Evening News
called Inside the Company: CIA Diary "a frightening picture of corruption, pressure, assassination and conspiracy". The Economist
called the book "inescapable reading". Miles Copeland, Jr.
, a former CIA station chief in Cairo
, said the book was "as complete an account of spy work as is likely to be published anywhere" and it is "an authentic account of how an ordinary American or British 'case officer' operates...All of it...is presented with deadly accuracy."
The book was delayed for six months before being published in the United States; it became an immediate best seller.
Agee writes that his first overseas assignment was in 1960 to Ecuador where his primary mission was to force a diplomatic break between Ecuador
and Cuba
, no matter what the cost to Ecuador's shaky stability, using bribery, intimidation, bugging, and forgery. Agee spent four years in Ecuador penetrating Ecuadorian politics. He states that his actions subverted and destroyed the political fabric of Ecuador.
Agee helped bug the United Arab Republic
code room in Montevideo
, Uruguay
, with two contact microphones placed on the ceiling of the room below.
On December 12, 1965 Agee explains how he visited senior Uruguayan military and police officers at a Montevideo police headquarters. He realized that the screaming he heard from a nearby cell was the torturing of a Uruguayan, whose name he had given to the police as someone to watch. The Uruguayan senior officers simply turned up a radio report of a soccer game to drown out the screams.
Agee also ran CIA operations within the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and he witnessed the events of the Tlatelolco massacre
.
Agee stated that President José Figueres Ferrer
of Costa Rica
, President Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970–1976) of Mexico
and President Alfonso López Michelsen
(1974–1978) of Colombia
were CIA collaborators or agents.
Following this he details how he resigned from the CIA and began writing the book, conducting research in Cuba, London and Paris. During this time he alleges he was being spied on by the CIA.
after the publication of Inside the Company. Agee revealed the identities of dozens of CIA agents in their London station. After numerous requests from the American government as well as an MI6 report that blamed Agee’s work for the execution of two MI6 agents in Poland
, a request was put in to deport Agee from the UK. Although Agee fought this and was supported by dozens of left wing MPs, journalists, and private citizens, he eventually departed from the UK on June 3, 1977, and traveled to the Netherlands
. Agee was also eventually expelled from the Netherlands
, France
, West Germany
and Italy
.
On January 12, 1975, Agee testified before the second Bertrand Russell Tribunal
in Brussels
that in 1960 he had conducted personal name checks of Venezuelan employees for a Venezuelan subsidiary of what is now Exxon
. Exxon was "letting the CIA assist in employment decisions, and my guess is that those name checks...are continuing to this day." Agee stated that the CIA customarily performed this service for subsidiaries of large U.S. corporations throughout Latin America. An Exxon spokesman denied Agee's accusations.
In 1978, Agee and a small group of his supporters began publishing the Covert Action Information Bulletin, which promoted "a worldwide campaign to destabilize the CIA through exposure of its operations and personnel." Mitrokhin states that the bulletin had help from both the KGB
and the Cuban DGI. The January 1979 issue of Agee's Bulletin published the infamous FM 30-31B
, which the US government claims is a forgery.
In 1978 and 1979, Agee published the two volumes of Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe and Dirty Work: The CIA in Africa which contained information of 2000 CIA personnel.
Agee told Swiss
journalist Peter Studer that “The CIA is plainly on the wrong side, that is, the capitalistic side. I approve KGB activities, communist activities in general. Between the overdone activities that the CIA initiates and the more modest activities of the KGB, there is absolutely no comparison.”
Agee's US passport
was revoked in 1979. In 1980, Maurice Bishop
's government conferred citizenship of Grenada
on Agee, and he took up residence in that island. The collapse of the Grenada Revolution removed that safe haven, and Agee then was given a passport by the Sandinista government in Nicaragua
. After a change of government there, this passport was revoked in 1990, and he was given a German
passport, the nationality of his wife, ballet dancer Giselle Roberge. They later lived in Germany
and Cuba
. Agee was later readmitted to both the U.S. and United Kingdom
. Agee's own description of his odyssey was published in his autobiography
, On the Run, in 1987.
passed the Intelligence Identities Protection Act
(IIPA), legislation that seemed directly aimed at Agee's works. The law would later figure in the investigation into the Valerie Plame
scandal into whether Bush administration officials leaked a case officer's name to the media as an act of retaliation against her husband.
, Cubalinda.com which uses loophole
s in American law to arrange holidays to Cuba for American citizens, who are generally prohibited by the Trading with the Enemy Act
statute of US law from spending money in Cuba. In the 1980s NameBase
founder Daniel Brandt had taught Agee how to use computers and computer databases for his research. According to an author's biography attached to an essay by Agee in March, 2007 in the Alexander Cockburn-edited magazine Counterpunch, Agee "has lived since 1978 with his wife in Hamburg
, Germany
. He travels frequently to Cuba and South America
for solidarity and business activities." The Cubalinda travel service was begun in 2000.
On December 16, 2007, Agee was admitted to a hospital in Havana, and surgery was performed on him due to perforated ulcer
s. His wife said on January 9, 2008 that he had died in Cuba on January 7 and had been cremated.
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...
(CIA) case officer and writer, best known as author of the 1975 book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary, detailing his experiences in the CIA. Agee joined the CIA in 1957, and over the following decade had postings in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, 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 Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. After resigning from the Agency in 1968, he became a leading opponent of CIA practices. A co-founder of CovertAction Quarterly
CovertAction Quarterly
CovertAction Quarterly was an American publication focused on and critical of the US Central Intelligence Agency. It was founded by former CIA officer turned agency critic Philip Agee and others in 1978. It is most famous for its "Naming Names" column which published the names of undercover CIA...
, he died in Cuba
Cuba
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...
in January 2008.
Early years
Agee was born in Tacoma, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
in 1956, and attended the University of Florida College of Law.
Leaving CIA
Agee stated that his Roman Catholic social conscience had made him increasingly uncomfortable with his work by the late 1960s1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
leading to his disillusionment with the CIA and its support for authoritarian governments across Latin America
Latin America
Latin 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...
. He and other dissidents took encouragement in their stand from the Church Committee
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...
(1975-76), which cast a critical light on the role of the CIA in assassinations, domestic espionage, and other illegal activities.
In the book Agee condemned the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre
Tlatelolco massacre
The Tlatelolco massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco , was a government massacre of student and civilian protesters and bystanders that took place during the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and wrote that this was the immediate event precipitating his leaving the agency.
While Agee claimed that the CIA was "very pleased with his work", offered him "another promotion" and his superior "was startled" when Agee told him about his plans to resign, the anti-communist journalist John Barron
John Barron (journalist)
John Daniel Barron was a conservative American journalist and investigative writer. He is best remembered as the author of several books dealing with specifics of Soviet espionage.-Early years:...
claims that Agee's resignation was forced "for a variety of reasons, including his irresponsible drinking, continuous and vulgar propositioning of embassy wives, and inability to manage his finances".
Agee was accused by U.S. President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
of being responsible for the death of Richard Welch
Richard Welch
Richard Skeffington Welch , a Harvard-educated classicist, was a CIA Station Chief killed by the radical Marxist organization Revolutionary Organization 17 November .-Early life and CIA career:...
, a Harvard-educated classicist who was murdered by the Revolutionary Organization 17 November
Revolutionary Organization 17 November
Revolutionary Organization 17 November , was a Marxist urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975 and believed to have been disbanded in 2002 after the arrest and trial of a...
while heading the CIA Station in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Bush had directed the CIA from 1976 to 1977.
KGB/Cuban intelligence involvement
Oleg KaluginOleg Kalugin
Oleg Danilovich Kalugin , is a former KGB general. He was a longtime head of KGB operations in the United States and later a critic of the agency.-Early life and the KGB career:...
, former head of the KGB
KGB
The 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...
’s Counterintelligence Directorate, states that in 1973 Agee approached the KGB's resident in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and offered a "treasure trove
Treasure trove
A treasure trove may broadly be defined as an amount of money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion found hidden underground or in places such as cellars or attics, where the treasure seems old enough for it to be presumed that the true owner is dead and the heirs undiscoverable...
of information". The KGB was too suspicious to accept his offer.
Kalugin states that:
For his part, Agee claimed in his later work On the Run that he had no intention of ever working for the KGB, which he still considered the enemy, and that he worked with the Cubans to assist left-wing and labour organizations in Latin America against fascism and CIA meddling in political affairs.
While Agee was writing Inside the Company: CIA Diary, the KGB kept in contact with him through Edgar Anatolvevich Cheporov, a London correspondent of the Novosti News Agency.
Agee was accused of receiving up to $1 million in payments from the Cuban intelligence service. He denied the accusations, which were first made by a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer and defector in a 1992 Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
report.
A later Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
article stated that Agee posed as a CIA Inspector General in order to target a member of the CIA's Mexico City station on behalf of Cuban intelligence. According to the article, Agee was identified during a meeting by a CIA case officer.
Book published
Because of legal problems in the United States, Inside the Company was first published in 1975 BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, while Agee was living in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Playboy Magazine (August 1975) published excerpts from his book in the article titled "What You Still Don't Know About The CIA! Ex-Company Man Philip Agee Tells All".
Agee acknowledged that "Representatives of the Communist Party of Cuba
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba is the governing political party in Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist-Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"...
also gave important encouragement at a time when I doubted that I would be able to find the additional information I needed."
The London Evening News
London Evening News
The London Evening News was a newspaper that was first published on 14 August 1855.Usually when people mention the London Evening News they are actually referring to The Evening News, that was published in London from 1881 to 1980 when it was incorporated into the Evening Standard.A newspaper under...
called Inside the Company: CIA Diary "a frightening picture of corruption, pressure, assassination and conspiracy". The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
called the book "inescapable reading". Miles Copeland, Jr.
Miles Copeland, Jr.
Miles Axe Copeland, Jr. was an American musician, businessman, and CIA officer who was closely involved in major foreign-policy operations from the 1950s to the 1980s...
, a former CIA station chief in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, said the book was "as complete an account of spy work as is likely to be published anywhere" and it is "an authentic account of how an ordinary American or British 'case officer' operates...All of it...is presented with deadly accuracy."
The book was delayed for six months before being published in the United States; it became an immediate best seller.
Inside the Company
Inside the Company identified 250 alleged CIA officers and agents. The officers and agents, all personally known to Agee, are listed in an appendix to the book. While written as a diary, it is actually a reconstruction of events based on Agee's memory and his subsequent research.Agee writes that his first overseas assignment was in 1960 to Ecuador where his primary mission was to force a diplomatic break between Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
and Cuba
Cuba
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...
, no matter what the cost to Ecuador's shaky stability, using bribery, intimidation, bugging, and forgery. Agee spent four years in Ecuador penetrating Ecuadorian politics. He states that his actions subverted and destroyed the political fabric of Ecuador.
Agee helped bug the United Arab Republic
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
code room in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, 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...
, with two contact microphones placed on the ceiling of the room below.
On December 12, 1965 Agee explains how he visited senior Uruguayan military and police officers at a Montevideo police headquarters. He realized that the screaming he heard from a nearby cell was the torturing of a Uruguayan, whose name he had given to the police as someone to watch. The Uruguayan senior officers simply turned up a radio report of a soccer game to drown out the screams.
Agee also ran CIA operations within the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games and he witnessed the events of the Tlatelolco massacre
Tlatelolco massacre
The Tlatelolco massacre, also known as The Night of Tlatelolco , was a government massacre of student and civilian protesters and bystanders that took place during the afternoon and night of October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City...
.
Agee stated that President José Figueres Ferrer
José Figueres Ferrer
José María Hipólito Figueres Ferrer , served as President of Costa Rica on three occasions:1948–1949, 1953–1958, and 1970–1974....
of Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, President Luis Echeverría Álvarez (1970–1976) of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and President Alfonso López Michelsen
Alfonso López Michelsen
Alfonso López Michelsen was a Colombian politician, lawyer and journalist. Lopez Michelsen was President of Colombia from 1974 to 1978. He was the son of Alfonso López Pumarejo, who was also president of Colombia from 1934 to 1938, and once again from 1942 to 1945...
(1974–1978) of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
were CIA collaborators or agents.
Following this he details how he resigned from the CIA and began writing the book, conducting research in Cuba, London and Paris. During this time he alleges he was being spied on by the CIA.
Expulsion
Agee became somewhat of a minor celebrity in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
after the publication of Inside the Company. Agee revealed the identities of dozens of CIA agents in their London station. After numerous requests from the American government as well as an MI6 report that blamed Agee’s work for the execution of two MI6 agents in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, a request was put in to deport Agee from the UK. Although Agee fought this and was supported by dozens of left wing MPs, journalists, and private citizens, he eventually departed from the UK on June 3, 1977, and traveled to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Agee was also eventually expelled from the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
On January 12, 1975, Agee testified before the second Bertrand Russell Tribunal
Russell Tribunal
The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal or Russell-Sartre Tribunal, was a public body organized by British philosopher Bertrand Russell and hosted by French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre...
in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
that in 1960 he had conducted personal name checks of Venezuelan employees for a Venezuelan subsidiary of what is now Exxon
Exxon
Exxon is a chain of gas stations as well as a brand of motor fuel and related products by ExxonMobil. From 1972 to 1999, Exxon was the corporate name of the company previously known as Standard Oil Company of New Jersey or Jersey Standard....
. Exxon was "letting the CIA assist in employment decisions, and my guess is that those name checks...are continuing to this day." Agee stated that the CIA customarily performed this service for subsidiaries of large U.S. corporations throughout Latin America. An Exxon spokesman denied Agee's accusations.
In 1978, Agee and a small group of his supporters began publishing the Covert Action Information Bulletin, which promoted "a worldwide campaign to destabilize the CIA through exposure of its operations and personnel." Mitrokhin states that the bulletin had help from both the KGB
KGB
The 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...
and the Cuban DGI. The January 1979 issue of Agee's Bulletin published the infamous FM 30-31B
US Army Field Manual 30-31B
The US Army Field Manual 30-31B is an alleged classified appendix to a US Army Field Manual that describes top-secret counter insurgency tactics. In particular, it identifies a strategy of tension involving violent attacks which are then blamed on radical left-wing groups in order to convince...
, which the US government claims is a forgery.
In 1978 and 1979, Agee published the two volumes of Dirty Work: The CIA in Western Europe and Dirty Work: The CIA in Africa which contained information of 2000 CIA personnel.
Agee told Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
journalist Peter Studer that “The CIA is plainly on the wrong side, that is, the capitalistic side. I approve KGB activities, communist activities in general. Between the overdone activities that the CIA initiates and the more modest activities of the KGB, there is absolutely no comparison.”
Agee's US passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
was revoked in 1979. In 1980, Maurice Bishop
Maurice Bishop
Maurice Rupert Bishop was a Grenadian politician and revolutionary who seized power in a coup in 1979 from Eric Gairy and served as Prime Minister of the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada until 1983, when he was overthrown in another coup by Bernard Coard, a member of his own...
's government conferred citizenship of Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
on Agee, and he took up residence in that island. The collapse of the Grenada Revolution removed that safe haven, and Agee then was given a passport by the Sandinista government in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
. After a change of government there, this passport was revoked in 1990, and he was given a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
passport, the nationality of his wife, ballet dancer Giselle Roberge. They later lived in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Cuba
Cuba
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...
. Agee was later readmitted to both the U.S. and United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Agee's own description of his odyssey was published in his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, On the Run, in 1987.
Intelligence Identities Protection Act
In 1982, the United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed the Intelligence Identities Protection Act
Intelligence Identities Protection Act
The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 is a United States federal law that makes it a federal crime for those with access to classified information, or those who systematically seek to identify and expose covert agents and have reason to believe that it will harm the foreign...
(IIPA), legislation that seemed directly aimed at Agee's works. The law would later figure in the investigation into the Valerie Plame
Valerie Plame
Valerie Elise Plame Wilson , known as Valerie Plame, Valerie E. Wilson, and Valerie Plame Wilson, is a former United States CIA Operations Officer and the author of a memoir detailing her career and the events leading up to her resignation from the CIA.-Early life :Valerie Elise Plame was born on...
scandal into whether Bush administration officials leaked a case officer's name to the media as an act of retaliation against her husband.
Late activities
Until his death, Agee ran a website in HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cubalinda.com which uses loophole
Loophole
A loophole is a weakness that allows a system to be circumvented.Loophole may also refer to:*Arrowslit, a slit in a castle wall*Loophole , a short science fiction story by Arthur C...
s in American law to arrange holidays to Cuba for American citizens, who are generally prohibited by the Trading with the Enemy Act
Trading with the Enemy Act
The Trading with the Enemy Act, sometimes abbreviated as TWEA, is a United States federal law, , enacted in 1917 to restrict trade with countries hostile to the United States. The law gives the President the power to oversee or restrict any and all trade between the U.S. and its enemies in times of...
statute of US law from spending money in Cuba. In the 1980s NameBase
NameBase
NameBase is a web-based cross-indexed database of names that focuses on individuals involved in the international intelligence community, U.S. foreign policy, crime, and business...
founder Daniel Brandt had taught Agee how to use computers and computer databases for his research. According to an author's biography attached to an essay by Agee in March, 2007 in the Alexander Cockburn-edited magazine Counterpunch, Agee "has lived since 1978 with his wife in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He travels frequently to Cuba and 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...
for solidarity and business activities." The Cubalinda travel service was begun in 2000.
On December 16, 2007, Agee was admitted to a hospital in Havana, and surgery was performed on him due to perforated ulcer
Perforated ulcer
A perforated ulcer, is a very serious condition where an untreated ulcer can burn through the wall of the stomach , allowing digestive juices and food to leech into the abdominal cavity. Treatment generally requires immediate surgery...
s. His wife said on January 9, 2008 that he had died in Cuba on January 7 and had been cremated.
See also
- Frank SneppFrank SneppFrank Warren Snepp is a journalist and former chief analyst of North Vietnamese strategy for the Central Intelligence Agency in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Five out of eight years in the CIA, he worked as interrogator, agent debriefer, and chief CIA strategy analyst in the US Embassy, Saigon...
- John StockwellJohn StockwellJohn R. Stockwell is a former CIA officer who became a critic of United States government policies after serving in the Agency for thirteen years serving seven tours of duty. After managing U.S...
- Ralph McGeheeRalph McGeheeRalph Walter McGehee is an American former officer of the Central Intelligence Agency . He worked for the CIA from 1952 to 1977 yet went on to be a critic of the agency.-Life and career:...
- Lindsay MoranLindsay MoranLindsay Moran is a former clandestine officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. She is a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today...
- 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....
- L. Fletcher ProutyL. Fletcher ProutyLeroy Fletcher Prouty served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy. A former colonel in the United States Air Force he retired from military service to become a banker, and subsequently became a critic of U.S...
- Peter WrightPeter WrightPeter Maurice Wright was an English scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, noted for writing the controversial book Spycatcher, which became an international bestseller with sales of over two million copies...
Further reading
- Andrew, Christopher; Mitrokhin, Vasili. The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World. Basic Books (2005)