Ralph McGehee
Encyclopedia
Ralph Walter McGehee is an American
former officer of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA). He worked for the CIA from 1952 to 1977 yet went on to be a critic of the agency.
. He was an All-American football player at University of Notre Dame
when they won three national championships in 1946-1949. McGehee received a B.S. in Business Administration (cum laude). Upon graduation, he spent a year as an offensive line coach at University of Dayton
.
After moving to Chicago
and taking a job as a management trainee at Montgomery Ward
, he was recruited by the CIA. Upon completion of training, he was stationed in numerous field offices as well as at CIA headquarters.
Since leaving the CIA, he has been highly critical of the organization. His 1983 book, Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA outlines his experiences there. Alexander Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
hailed it as "one of the outstanding books written by former CIA agents".
A downside of this book for many was McGehee's personal knowledge of the extent to which the famed physician, Thomas Anthony Dooley III, was involved in CIA warfare across Indochina
. This included awareness that the atrocities alleged in the best seller, "Deliver Us From Evil", 1956, were fabricated for the beginning of a psywar campaign (later revealed by the Church Committee
in 1975).
McGehee has written articles on CIA activities for the Washington Post, The Nation
, The Progressive
, Harper's Magazine
and Gannet
News Service among others. He has also developed CIABASE, a computer database of CIA figures and programs compiled from available public information. He has discussed his time spent in Vietnam
and claimed that the CIA supported anti-Communist counterinsurgency in the Philippines,
A 1981 allegation by McGehee about CIA involvement in the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966 was censored by the CIA, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union
to sue on his behalf. The CIA prevailed. McGehee also alleged that "The CIA forged a document purporting to reveal a leftist plot to murder Chilean military leaders", in order to provoke them into launching the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.
" It gives me great pleasure...
I have the highest regard for Ralph as a person of impeccable integrity.... In the course of his tours...Ralph gained recognition as one of the Agency's most knowledgeable officers on Asian communism. ...he performed original research, undertaking special projects on trips overseas, and devising innovative means of collecting information from normally inaccessible sources and areas. He composed original studies on Asian communist parties that were widely praised in the U.S. government ...and was in demand ...as a briefer on communist strategy and tactics.
Ralph [received] the Career Intelligence Medal...reflecting `exceptional achievement that conspicuously contributed to the mission of the Agency.' `[He received] a cash award for proposing a method for learning about and countering communist insurgency. This method of gathering, collating, and processing intelligence was the product of his resourcefulness, initiative, and ingenuity... he requested to be assigned...to the most seriously threatened ...province in order to select, train, and organize team personnel and implement his plan...He formulated and implemented a unique counter-revolutionary methodology and this approach resulted in complete coverage of the insurgency. The information produced was so detailed and the procedures used so carefully designed not to alienate the people that the revolution collapsed....'"
"The above citation alone capsulates Ralph's abilities neatly. But he was commended many times, in writing for his work here and at CIA field stations overseas. After a recent trip abroad, one commendation read, in part: `He was relentless in digging into the materials at hand, pursuing various avenues of investigation, and seeking new information and channels as he proceeded with his research. He well demonstrated his perseverance, intellectual keenness, and analytical ability...' Another recent field recommendation reads: `His dedication, enthusiasm, and perseverance were outstanding...' he `has few peers at this type of research and analysis...' Still another praised the `quality and scholarship' of a briefing paper.... His performance evaluations are full of superlatives, especially for his last half dozen years of research, analysis, and briefings in the field of Asian and international communism...."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
former officer of 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...
(CIA). He worked for the CIA from 1952 to 1977 yet went on to be a critic of the agency.
Life and career
McGehee was born in Moline, IllinoisMoline, Illinois
Moline is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States, with a population of 45,792 in 2010. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities has a population of...
. He was an All-American football player at 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...
when they won three national championships in 1946-1949. McGehee received a B.S. in Business Administration (cum laude). Upon graduation, he spent a year as an offensive line coach at University of Dayton
University of Dayton
The University of Dayton is a private Roman Catholic university operated by the Society of Mary located in Dayton, Ohio...
.
After moving to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and taking a job as a management trainee at Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
, he was recruited by the CIA. Upon completion of training, he was stationed in numerous field offices as well as at CIA headquarters.
Since leaving the CIA, he has been highly critical of the organization. His 1983 book, Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA outlines his experiences there. Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander Claud Cockburn is an American political journalist. Cockburn was brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in the United States since 1972. Together with Jeffrey St. Clair, he edits the political newsletter CounterPunch...
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Jeffrey St. Clair
Jeffrey St. Clair is an investigative journalist, writer and editor. He is the co-editor, with Alexander Cockburn, of the political newsletter CounterPunch, and a contributing editor to the monthly magazine In These Times. He has also written for The Washington Post, San Francisco Examiner, The...
hailed it as "one of the outstanding books written by former CIA agents".
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
. This included awareness that the atrocities alleged in the best seller, "Deliver Us From Evil", 1956, were fabricated for the beginning of a psywar campaign (later revealed by 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...
in 1975).
McGehee has written articles on CIA activities for the Washington Post, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
and Gannet
Gannet
Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...
News Service among others. He has also developed CIABASE, a computer database of CIA figures and programs compiled from available public information. He has discussed his time spent in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and claimed that the CIA supported anti-Communist counterinsurgency in the Philippines,
A 1981 allegation by McGehee about CIA involvement in the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966 was censored by the CIA, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
to sue on his behalf. The CIA prevailed. McGehee also alleged that "The CIA forged a document purporting to reveal a leftist plot to murder Chilean military leaders", in order to provoke them into launching the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.
CIA Letter of Recommendation for Ralph McGehee
The CIA Retirement Affairs Division issued a letter of recommendation for Ralph McGehee upon his retirement in 1977 stating:" It gives me great pleasure...
I have the highest regard for Ralph as a person of impeccable integrity.... In the course of his tours...Ralph gained recognition as one of the Agency's most knowledgeable officers on Asian communism. ...he performed original research, undertaking special projects on trips overseas, and devising innovative means of collecting information from normally inaccessible sources and areas. He composed original studies on Asian communist parties that were widely praised in the U.S. government ...and was in demand ...as a briefer on communist strategy and tactics.
Ralph [received] the Career Intelligence Medal...reflecting `exceptional achievement that conspicuously contributed to the mission of the Agency.' `[He received] a cash award for proposing a method for learning about and countering communist insurgency. This method of gathering, collating, and processing intelligence was the product of his resourcefulness, initiative, and ingenuity... he requested to be assigned...to the most seriously threatened ...province in order to select, train, and organize team personnel and implement his plan...He formulated and implemented a unique counter-revolutionary methodology and this approach resulted in complete coverage of the insurgency. The information produced was so detailed and the procedures used so carefully designed not to alienate the people that the revolution collapsed....'"
"The above citation alone capsulates Ralph's abilities neatly. But he was commended many times, in writing for his work here and at CIA field stations overseas. After a recent trip abroad, one commendation read, in part: `He was relentless in digging into the materials at hand, pursuing various avenues of investigation, and seeking new information and channels as he proceeded with his research. He well demonstrated his perseverance, intellectual keenness, and analytical ability...' Another recent field recommendation reads: `His dedication, enthusiasm, and perseverance were outstanding...' he `has few peers at this type of research and analysis...' Still another praised the `quality and scholarship' of a briefing paper.... His performance evaluations are full of superlatives, especially for his last half dozen years of research, analysis, and briefings in the field of Asian and international communism...."
Quotes
See also
- Allegations of state terrorism by the United StatesAllegations of state terrorism by the United StatesSeveral scholars have accused the United States of conducting state terrorism. They have written about the liberal democracies and their use of state terrorism, particularly in relation to the Cold War. According to them, state terrorism was used to protect the interest of capitalist elites, and...
- Philip AgeePhilip AgeePhilip Burnett Franklin Agee was a Central Intelligence Agency 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,...
- former CIA MexicoMexicoThe 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 EcuadorEcuadorEcuador , 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...
case officer. - 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....
- special assistant to Director Richard Helms. - 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...
- Senate investigations under Frank Church,(D-ID) 1975. - John R. Stockwell - former CIA case officer.
- Ray McGovernRay McGovernRaymond McGovern is a retired CIA officer turned political activist. McGovern was a Federal employee under seven U.S. presidents over 27 years, presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House for many of them.-Early life:...
- Former CIA senior analyst and U.S. President National Security Adviser. - Mel Goodman - Professor, former CIA senior analyst.
- Robert BaerRobert BaerRobert "Bob" Booker Baer is an American author and a former CIA case officer assigned to the Middle East. He is TIME.com's intelligence columnist and has contributed to Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. Baer is a frequent commentator and author about issues related to...
- former CIA case officer. - Robert David SteeleRobert David SteeleRobert David Steele Vivas , is known for his promotion of open source intelligence . He is a former United States Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer for twenty years and was the second-ranking civilian in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence from 1988–1992...
- John J. McCarthy Jr - former CIA Project Cherry case officer.