Prados - Safe for democracy: the secret wars of the CIA

SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY

ALSO BY JOHN PRADOS

Hoodwinked: The Documents That Reveal How Bush Sold Us a War (ed.)
Inside the Pentagon Papers (ed., with Margaret Pratt Porter)
The White House Tapes: Eavesdropping on the President (ed.)
Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby
Operation Vulture
America Confronts Terrorism (ed.)
The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War

Presidents Secret Wars: CIA and Pentagon Covert Operations from
World War II Through the Persian Gulf

Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of U.S. Intelligence and the
Japanese Navy in World War II

The Hidden History of the Vietnam War
Valley of Decision: The Siege of Khe Sanh (with Ray W. Stubbe)

Keepers of the Keys: A History of the National Security Council from
Truman to Bush

Pentagon Games
The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Intelligence and Soviet Strategic Forces
The Sky Would Fall: The Secret U.S. Bombing Mission to Vietnam, 1954

THE
SECRET WARS
OF THE CIA

JOHN PRADOS

SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY. Copyright 2006 by John Prados. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. For information, address: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, 1332 North Halsted Street, Chicago 60642, a member of the Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group. Manufactured in the United States of America and printed on acid-free paper.

www.ivanrdee.com

The paperback edition of this book carries the ISBN 978-1-56663-823-4.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Prados, John.

Safe for democracy : the secret wars of the CIA / John Prados.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-56663-823-4 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Intelligence serviceUnited States. 2. United States. Central Intelligence Agency. 3. United StatesForeign relations. I. Title.

JK468.I6P715 2006
327.1273dc22

2006006269

To a More Perfect Union

MANY PEOPLE AND INSTITUTIONS contributed to the making of this book. My work on it began as a fellowship project of the International Center for Advanced Studies of New York University. I thank NYU and ICAS for their belief in and support of this initiative. I am especially indebted to my colleagues and friends at the National Security Archive, where I am a senior fellow. A portion of the research was underwritten by a grant from the Gerald R. Ford Library Foundation. I am grateful to them as well. A special thanks goes to all those editors on assorted other projects on which I have worked who patiently endured delays at various points so that this manuscript could move to completion. Speaking of editors, Ivan R. Dees vision, suggestions, and deft hand added immeasurably to this book, and I also thank Jason Proetorius and everyone who contributed to its production.

This work would not have the depth and scope that it does without the insights of those who spoke to me or exchanged correspondence, so I wish to express my appreciation to all those interviewees who helped educate me on these matters. Certain reviewers of my earlier biography of William E. Colby chose to select out some of the individuals whom I acknowledged as an excuse to damn the entire work. For this reason, as well as because some interviewees wished to remain anonymous, I do not mention anyone by name. But all should know how thankful I am to them.

For assistance with documentary research I extend great thanks to the staffs and archivists of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); and the Harry S Truman Library, Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, John F. Kennedy Library, Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Richard Nixon Library Project, Gerald R. Ford Library, and Ronald Reagan Library, all of NARA. My special appreciation goes to John Taylor, Herbert Pankratz, Moira Porter, Michele DeMartino, David Humphrey, Regina Greenwell, Nancy Smith, Linda Seelke, Ted Gittinger, Shannon Jarrett, Irene Lonedo, Karen Holzhausen, and Donna Lehman. Some of these excellent archivists have moved up, on, or retired during the long years I have been following these subjects, but I am proud to have worked with each of them. In addition I am grateful to the staff and archivists of the Library of Congress and to the staffs of Columbia University, New York University, George Washington University, and Wheaton Regional libraries. For specific help with particular documents or tips on materials, I thank Anna Kasten Nelson, Malcolm Byrne, Mario del Pero, Peter Kornbluh, and William Burr.

For a brief moment in the 1990s and until 9/11 the Central Intelligence Agency made an effort to open its files to the American people. Its Historical Review Program declassified a number of documents central to the story. The CIAs Center for the Study of Intelligence produced a number of documentary collections, some of which contained useful material. The Center sponsored more than a dozen conferences where the subjects of these collections were considered by (mostly former) intelligence officers and scholars together. I was asked to speak at several of these meetings. But since September 11 these initiatives have ground almost to a halt, as have most CIA document declassification efforts. This deplorable state of affairs bodes ill for the effort to build an American consensus on the need for intelligence and the future of the CIA.

Having said that, let me hasten to add my appreciation for the efforts of the Kennedy Assassination Records Commission. Due to Americans intense interest in the events of the Kennedy assassination, for another brief moment in time the declassification shoe was on the other foot, and U.S. government agencies faced a board with the statutory responsibility to put information before the public. The results of its review have enabled us to move the discussion of U.S. covert operations against Cuba to a whole new level. I also wish to express my indebtedness to my own National Security Archive. The sustained efforts of the Archive to petition for the release of records through the Freedom of Information Act and other declassification avenues have opened up material relevant to almost every aspect of American foreign policy. The Archives physical collection of documents, and its collaboration with other institutions in hosting conferences that brought together historians and participants within a document-rich context, are a great source of knowledge. The Archives work in putting these materials before the public in the form of microfiche collections of primary source material, document readers, and electronic briefing books accessible on the internet, makes available a rich vein of research. Even this book can barely scratch the surface of that material.

Many acute analysts of American policy, intelligence, and national security have exchanged ideas and suggestions or helped me sharpen my thinking. Some of them are mentioned above, but I also wish to thank Kai Bird, J. Kenneth McDonald, Stephen Coll, Mary Nolan, Gregory Treverton, Jeffrey Richelson, Gerald K. Haines, Marilyn Young, Andrew Bacevich, Phillip Deery, Michael Warner, Timothy Naftali, Lloyd Gardner, Svetlana Savranskaya, James Bamford, Richard L. Aldrich, Maria Eleonora Guasconi, Loch Johnson, Walter LaFeber, Max Holland, Richard K. Betts, and Thomas Blanton. For reading and editing the manuscript I am deeply indebted to Ellen Pinzur. For putting up with me during this lengthy process I thank my daughters Danielle and Natasha. All these persons added value to the book. For its errors and omissions I alone am responsible.