CIA to release cold war 'black files'

[mawilson 2,133]

The CIA is to declassify secret records detailing illegal domestic surveillance, assassination

plots, kidnapping, infiltration and other "black" operations undertaken from the 1950s to the

early 1970s

The files detail the agency's activities at the height of the cold war with the Soviet Union

and "Red" China; and the Vietnam conflict.

The records were compiled in 1973 at the behest of the then CIA director, James Schlesinger,

and collected in a 693-page dossier known as the "family jewels". Although some of its

contents have previously been leaked, the CIA has refused until now to place the full dossier

in the public domain.

Mr Schlesinger acted after discovering that Howard Hunt and James McCord, veteran CIA

officers whose burglary of a Washington hotel room triggered the Watergate scandal, had

received the agency's cooperation in carrying out "dirty tricks" for President Richard Nixon.

According to the National Security Archive at George Washington University, Mr Schlesinger

directed his officials to collate details of any other current or past agency activity that "might

fall outside CIA authority" - that was, in other words, illegal.

The results of the internal trawl were breathtaking. But within months of finalising the "family

jewels" dossier, William Colby replaced Mr Schlesinger as CIA chief. When the New York

Times published a report on the CIA's domestic surveillance operations in December 1974,

apparently based in part on the dossier, panic erupted inside the administration of president

Gerald Ford (who had succeeded the disgraced Nixon the previous August).

At a damage-limitation meeting with James Wilderotter, the deputy attorney general, in

January 1975, Mr Colby laid bare what he called the "skeletons" concealed in the dossier.

Minutes of the meeting, obtained by the National Security Archive and posted on the university

website today, listed the skeletons one by one.

Domestic black operations included the illegal detention and interrogation of a Russian defector,

the wiretapping of two nationally-read columnists, Robert Allen and Paul Scott, and the

surveillance of other journalists including the late Jack Anderson and Victor Marchetti, a

former CIA operative who had turned against the agency. Several illegal break-ins are also listed.

According to the minutes, Mr Colby said some US citizens had been subjected to "unwitting" CIA

drug experiments to induce "behaviour modification". The CIA had also illegally amassed 9,900

files on Americans involved in Vietnam-related anti-war activities.

The Colby-Wilderotter minutes also state that the CIA "plotted the assassination of some foreign

leaders including (Fidel) Castro (of Cuba), (Patrice) Lumumba (of the Democratic Republic of

Congo) and (Rafael) Trujillo (of the Dominican Republic)."

They go on: "With respect to Trujillo's assassination on May 30 1961, the CIA had 'no active part'

but had a 'faint connection' with the groups that in fact did it."

In an official record of a White House meeting with president Ford the next day, on January 4 1975,

a rattled Henry Kissinger, the secretary of state and national security adviser, argues that the

existence of the "family jewels" dossier, and its partial leaking to the press, may turn into a major

scandal - with the FBI being obliged to investigate the CIA.

"What is happening is worse than in the days of McCarthy. You will end up with a CIA that does

only reporting, not operations... What Colby has done is a disgrace." Dr Kissinger tells the president.

He goes on: "All these stories are just the tip of the iceberg. If they come out, blood will flow.

For example, Robert Kennedy (the former attorney general and president Kennedy's brother)

personally managed the operation on the assassination of Castro."

Mr Ford says he agrees but Dr Kissinger continues his rant: "The Chilean thing - that is not in any

report. That is sort of blackmail on me." The comment is not explained. Salvador Allende, president

of Chile, died in a US-backed military coup in September 1973.

Announcing the decision to release the "family jewels" next week, plus 11,000 pages of "hard

target" intelligence gathered about the Soviet Union and China between 1953 and 1973, General

Michael Hayden, the CIA director, said they offered a "glimpse of a very different time and a very

different agency".

In an apparent attempt to persuade Americans that the agency has changed its spots, Gen Hayden

added: "The CIA recognises the very real benefits that flow from greater public understanding

of our work."

Source

[almaty 19]

the CIA had 'no active part'

but had a 'faint connection' with the groups that in fact did it."

yeah right..' faint connection' my azz

[mawilson 2,133]

the CIA had 'no active part'

but had a 'faint connection' with the groups that in fact did it."

yeah right..' faint connection' my azz

It's all true brother - even the "behaviour modification" drug experiments

[almaty 19]

the CIA had 'no active part'

but had a 'faint connection' with the groups that in fact did it."

yeah right..' faint connection' my azz

It's all true brother - even the "behaviour modification" drug experiments

wow, so wrong...lsd ..sweet lucy....the bullhead clap...oh wait, i am just reliving my past.......

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Some of what they're planning to release has been an open-secret for years.

An example is the acid (as in LSD) testing they did in Canada in 1950's (about which there are ongoing lawsuits).

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So they want to show that the CIA is a different agency - a 21st century fluffy bunny to the 20th century Lone Wolf

Of course these days - with Private Military Contractors doing a lot of the dirty work, its easy to find someone else to blame.

[mawilson 2,133]

So they want to show that the CIA is a different agency - a 21st century fluffy bunny to the 20th century Lone Wolf

Pretty much. "We're releasing this information because we're different now."

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So they want to show that the CIA is a different agency - a 21st century fluffy bunny to the 20th century Lone Wolf

Pretty much. "We're releasing this information because we're different now."

I wonder if it comes with a glossy brochure and public information pamphlets

[Jasman0717 9]

Who was on the grassy knoll?

[almaty 19]

well the CIA, is much more ethical..see gitmo..

secret prison in the eastern europe.,...

[Portlander 0]

So they want to show that the CIA is a different agency - a 21st century fluffy bunny to the 20th century Lone Wolf

Pretty much. "We're releasing this information because we're different now."

Well, all of that is fully legal now. We have warrantless wiretapping, habeas corpus (illegal detention) has been suspended, so "illegally" detaining and interrogating the Russian defector is fully legal today. Thanks Bush.

They are releasing the information because it doesn't matter anymore.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

30 years time we'll be hearing all about the ####### they are doing today...