Science, Technology and the CIA: From Satellites to Psychics

Science, Technology and the CIA: From Satellites to Psychics

Jeffrey T. Richelson, Editor

From The National Security Archive, George WashingtonUniversity.

"Mention of the Central Intelligence Agency generally elicits visions of espionage and covert action operations. It may also produce images of the multitude of finished intelligence products the agency turns out – from the tightly controlled President’s Daily Brief, available only to the president and a select circle of advisers, to a number of less restricted intelligence assessments. The CIA’s role in the application of science and technology to the art of intelligence is far less appreciated. Even an 800-page history of the agency, published in 1986, John Ranelagh’s The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA, included only a few references to the CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology. However, the exploitation of science and technology has been a significant element of the CIA’s activities, almost since its creation. In 1962, it resulted in the creation of the Deputy Directorate of Research, which was succeeded in 1963 by the Deputy Directorate for Science and Technology (renamed the Directorate of Science and Technology in 1965)...[read more]"

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).


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The Pentagon's Spies: Defense HUMINT

Defense HUMINT: The Pentagon's Spies

From The National Security Archives, George Washington University.

"A key part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s mission, since its creation in 1947, has been the conduct of human intelligence operations – which have included the recruitment of foreign nationals to conduct espionage as well the debriefing of defectors and other individuals with access to information of value. The primary focus of such HUMINT operations has been strategic – the collection of information relevant to national policymakers.
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The documents that make up this briefing book provide a window into the creation, evolution and (in some cases) abolition of a number of military service/DoD human intelligence organizations, the product of their activities, and the controversies that have occurred over the last several decades."

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup

The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup:

From The National Security Archive, George Washington University.

"This extremely important document is one of the last major pieces of the puzzle explaining American and British roles in the August 1953 coup against Iranian Premier Mohammad Mossadeq. Written in March 1954 by Donald Wilber, one of the operation’s chief planners, the 200-page document is essentially an after-action report, apparently based in part on agency cable traffic and Wilber’s interviews with agents who had been on the ground in Iran as the operation lurched to its conclusion." 

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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Fighting the War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973

Fighting the War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973:

From The National Security ARchive, George Washington University.


 "Previously secret U.S. Air Force official histories of the Vietnam war published by the National Security Archive disclose for the first time that Central Intelligence Agency contract employees had a direct role in combat air attacks when they flew Laotian government aircraft on strike missions and that the Air Force actively considered nuclear weapons options during the 1959 Laos crisis.
The newly declassified histories, which were released through Freedom of Information Act litigation by the National Security Archive with the law firm James & Hoffman, include the Air Force's detailed official history of the war in northern Laos, written during the 1990s but hidden in classified form for years. Also declassified were Air Force historical studies on specific years of the Vietnam War, documenting in great detail the Air Force's role in planning and implementing the air war in North and South Vietnam. Among other significant disclosures in these histories are:

• Air Force interest in nuclear options during at least two flash points in the Southeast Asian conflict: Laos in 1959 and in 1968 during the battle of Khe Sanh.
• CIA operational commitments for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion hampered the Agency's ability to carry out Kennedy administration policy in Laos.
• CIA proprietary Air America directed search and rescue missions in Laos in addition to its role in combat operations.
• The U.S. ambassador in Laos served as the field commander of the so-called "secret war" there, a role that has been largely undocumented."

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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The CIA's Vietnam Histories

The CIA's Vietnam Histories:

From John Prados & The National Security Archive, George Washington University.

"The Central Intelligence Agency participated in every aspect of the wars in Indochina, political and military, according to newly declassified CIA histories. The six volumes of formerly secret histories (the Agency's belated response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados) document CIA activities in South and North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in unprecedented detail. The histories contain a great deal of new material and shed light on aspects of the CIA's work that were not well known or were poorly understood."

Link to electronic briefing book (outside THF network).

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Intelligence and Vietnam: The Top Secret 1969 State Department Study

Intelligence and Vietnam: The Top Secret 1969 State Department Study

From The National Security Archive, George Washington University. 

"In late 1968, Thomas L. Hughes, the director of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), commissioned this study, intended as an in-house classified review and evaluation of INR's performance on the subject of Vietnam during the eight years of the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies. As Mr. Hughes explains in the retrospective preface he generously provided for this posting, he tasked two former INR analysts who were intimately familiar with INR's product but no longer serving in the Bureau - W. Dean Howells and Dorothy Avery - to produce the study. They wrote the chronological review of INR reporting, compiled the annexes of source material, and wrote the thematic summaries as well. Recently retired INR staffer Fred Greene then reviewed the material and wrote the critique section. Mr. Hughes refrained from supervising or editing the results."

Link to electronic briefing book & report (outside THF network).

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