The CIA's Black Ops; Covert Action, Foreign Policy, and Democracy

Description

Since 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has secretly worked to subvert foreignpowers and even overthrow enemy governments to further United States influence abroad. The vast array of CIA black "ops" (operations)--including covert acts against Saddam Hussein and international terrorists, secret Afghan missions, the overthrow of Guatemalan leaders, assassination plots against Castro and others, domestic and foreign narcotics conspiracies, underground Mafia relations, and even controversial plans to dupe top U.S. officials-has stretched its influence far beyond its original purpose.A member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Dr. John Jacob Nutter reveals that the U.S. has become too enamored with covert action; that black ops have become U.S. foreign policy; and that the CIA has developed into a policy maker, dangerously independent of the government that created it. Nutter explains the many and varied types of covert action-subsidies, graymail, propaganda, psychological and economic warfare, military support, paramilitary operations, coups d'etat, and assassinations-and provides detailed examples of success and failure undertaken in the name of "national security."Unusual and exclusive, The CIA's Black Ops is a courageous and unprecedented declassification of foreign exploits and domestic secrets, covering clandestine activities from the birth of special operations to today's underground actions--many operations so covert that government officials don't know (or don't want to know) they are taking place.A well-recognized expert on terrorism and covert operations, John Jacob Nutter is a historical researcher and former assistant professor at Michigan State University, specializing in covert action, international politics, and guerrilla warfare. He has appeared on numerous news programs including National Public Radio and CNN The author lists a number of the more important delinquencies of the Central Intelligence Agency: - spying on thousands of Americans for their political beliefs [including black bagging]; - opening the mail of Americans not suspected of any crime; - harassing and disrupting legal American political groups simply for their dissenting views; - testing neurochemical and biological agents (such as LSD) and toxins on American citizens without their consent or knowledge, covering up these activities, and destroying evidence of them; - engaging in secret wars with neither the consent nor knowledge of Congress; - engaging in acts of war or acts that created a high probability of war without the consent or knowledge of Congress; - purposely concealing these acts or intentionally misleading members of the government who have a right to know about such activities; - employing the policies and resources of intelligence agencies to further the goals of private corporations and political groups; - subverting democratic processes and sponsoring the functional equivalents of coups d'etat in friendly and allied countries; - creating private, off-the-books intelligence and operations organizations in deliberate attempts to evade U. S. law; - negotiating with terrorists and paying ransom for hostages; and - arming insurgent and terrorist organizations with modern weapons in spite of their anti-American positions." One nice thing about the summary well thought out bullet point list like this one that he places at the end of chapters