A Liar for God, a Stooge for the Soviets: A Billy Graham Tale

An undated CIA report "Dissent and Religion in the USSR" reveals that the Soviet regime used Billy Graham and other high-profile evangelists to further government goals. According to the CIA study, visits by Graham and others served Soviet propaganda goals and weakened religious organizations hostile to the government. When Graham and others preached in the USSR, the Soviets were empowered to claim that free of religion was present in the USSR.  Graham and others were allowed to “registered church” congregations which the CIA noted denied legitimacy to unofficial or illegal religious groupings which as documented by the CIA engaged in widespread, near- continual resistance to the regime. In contrast, clergy from registered churches were used by the Soviets for their own purposes. Some clerics served as "propagandists for regime policy," while the Russian Orthodox Church received additional support in the hopes it would poach adherents away from religions likely to pose a challenge to continue government domination. 

Undated CIA Report on Religion in the USSR

"One of the Absolute Best Writers on the Right"

Was how Slate columnist David Weigel described John Derbyshire less than a month ago. Now that John Derbyshire has exposed his full on racism, Weigel has fully joined in the stomping of  Derbyshire's reputation. However, Weigel's comments will live on forever here.

Austerity Porn: National Archives Edition

Thanks to long-standing austerity measures, mindless government bashing and its attending budget cuts, and intrinsic American anti-intellectualism and allergies to history, the National Archives has been forced for a number of years now to panhandle for funding through a private charity, the Foundation for the National Archives. This is particularly appalling because by all sane measures, the National Archives is one of the most effective, useful, necessary, and efficient government agencies out there. I have and continue to do extensive research with NARA records and I have never encountered anything other than fast, polite, and otherwise stellar services from all elements of that agency.  Frankly, what little Americans know about history can, in my opinion, be almost entirely credited to the folks at the National Archives. 

This year’s pitch is particularly sad as the Foundation for the National Archives is seeking funds for the National Archives Genealogy Fair which will teach interested folks about, “records relating to the military, immigration, court, census, land, African Americans, Native Americans, and Canadian border crossings,” among other things.  In short, the Foundation for the National Archives is forced to supplicate for the funds necessary to accomplish its core mission and responsibilities: inform Americans about itself and its missions teach Americans how to use its records, and educate Americans about their history and heritage.

Don’t get me wrong. I support their work. Since the American right has decided to neglect this aspect of governance, the National Archives is forced to seek private sector support. However, government spending via fundraiser is going to lead us to a dark place because, after all, “The Friends of OSHA or “The Foundation for EPA” are not going to draw many donors.

Christopher Hitchens Was the Subject of an FBI Foreign Counterintelligence Probe

First, the CIA Glomars a Hitchens- related FOIA request. Now the FBI is trying to dodge my FOIA requests regarding Christopher Hitchens. Upon his death, a FOIA request as submitted seeking all FBI records pertaining to Hitchens. In response, the FBI released 19 pages of previously released documents without giving me even the right of appeal. Nor did they bother to give me a sheet listing which pages they withheld so I am not even sure of the file’s size.

The released material is riddled with b(1) redactions with (S) and (C) written next to them. This means the withheld information, despite being years and even decades- old “could be expected to cause damage to the national security” in the case of confidential classified material or “serious damage to the national security” in the case of the Secret information.”

However, the FBI’s redactions and handling of the request does not preclude us from gloaming some insights from the released material. The first two pages of material are the newest and are from INS. They are name check requests conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization in March 2005.

The next five pages of material are heavily redacted but reveal that Hitchens was the subject of a 105 investigation. A 105- file is a file pertaining to “foreign counterintelligence”. Why Hitchens was the subject of a counterintelligence probe is withheld, but there is a discussion of his activities as a Oxford socialist/Trotskyist” and that it had been discovered that Hitchens might be traveling about the United States on a scholarship. However, searches by INS and State found no records on him, so it appears that the investigation was dropped.

Hitchens comes to FBI’s attention again in December 1981. However, the record in question is almost entirely withheld on “national security” grounds. The rest of the record relates to Hitchens activities in 1983. In the beginning of the year, the United States Secret Service request information on Hitchens “in connection with the granting of a press pass for admittance to the White House.”  The FBI responded back with several memorandum and airtels which have been withheld in their entirety on “national security” grounds. There is a essentially redacted teletype from July 1983 revealing that Hitchens is involved in some foreign counterintelligence investigation, but nothing more.  In August 1983, the FBI attaché in London reported to the director that they had no information on Hitchens' travel plans and some wholly- redacted information, information redacted on “national security” grounds.  The rest of the file deals with an autumn 1983 request by Hitchens to become a permanent resident.  Except for a background form filled out by Hitchens, most of the information is withheld on “national security” grounds.

Christopher Hitchens' FBI File

CIA Glomars FOIA Request Christopher Hitchens

In response to a FOIA request, the CIA has invoked Glomar and refuses to confirm or deny the existence of any records pertaining to Christopher Hitchens.

I honestly suspect there are some records due to his past associations with communists and just the global nature of his work, fame, and persona. I am willing to wage a modicum of my meager wage that we will have some confirmation of this when the FBI responds to FOIA requests seeking Bureau records on Hitchens.

The CIA Glomars Request for Christopher Hitchens Records

"Rampant Corruption Among the Security Forces," Ineptitude Hindered Peruvian War on Terrorism

Information recently declassified in response to a Mandatory Declassification Review to the Central Intelligence Agency reveals that “rampant corruption among the security forces” and “interservice rivalries” hampered the Peruvian war on terrorism in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Also discussed is the role of Libyan money played in supporting the organization which the CIA believes was behind a spike in the capabilities of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), which included as well as support to a wider-range of fellow terrorist organizations than the CIA was willing to publicly acknowledge. Support from MRTA was not only extended to Bolivian terrorists but also a terrorist group in Argentina and possibly elsewhere.

The CIA noted that the MRTA posed a challenge to the Sendero Luminoso, a larger, more rural terrorist organization operating in Peru at that time. The CIA believed that MRTA's successful attacks inside Lima and the publicity they generated were likely behind the uptick in violence by Sendero Luminoso occurring at that the time.

Finally, the CIA also reveal its organizational chart for the organization for the first time.See the full report below:

3/1991 CIA Report on the Tupac Amaru

CIA/ Mandela Porn: The Best CIA Documents About Nelson Mandela

In honor of the 22 anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison, I have compiled from the CIA's publicly released archives, a collection of the most interesting documents and factoids available on or about Nelson Mandela.

In response to a Mandatory Declassification Review, the CIA processed a 9/26/1986 Directorate of Intelligence Report titled,” Nelson Mandela: What if Alive and Well and Free in South Africa [redacted].

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81311359/Mandela-Alive-and-Well-in-SA

 

The report reveals that Mandela, despite South African claims to the contrary, was not a Communist. Additionally, Mandela refused to renounce violence in order to secure his release from prison, preferring to remain in jail because he “almost certainly believes that his remaining in prison serves the black cause better than his accepting a conditional release. He evidently calculates that his continued imprisonment keeps international attention focused on the South Africa problem and discredits government reform efforts that do not include him.”

Another striking feature of the report is that Mandela was viewed as particularly close to death and there was an acute fear of him dying in prison.

Compare this version to the 2006 release version and you'll notice that despite the passage of twenty years and the deaths of many South African, African National Congress, and American figures related to this issue, we're still not allowed to know a single additional word of the report. In fact, the CIA released the document with zero new information declassified. The only difference is that the CIA switched the color of the redactions from black to a white.

One of the scenario likely contained within redactions of the above document is a renewed military campaign by the ANC. According to an article in the 4/8/1985 Terrorism Review, “if [Mandela] were to leave the country and actively resume his position as head of the ANC, many young blacks would follow him to fight under his leadership” and “ a reinvigorated ANC with Mandela at the helm might even cause a shift in attitudes among leaders of neighboring black states. They are currently are following a policy of cautious détente with Pretoria, but their hatred of apartheid could overcome fear of South African retribution if they believed the ANC's military campaign had a reasonable chance of success.”

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81311572/481985-Terrorism-Review

Here is the undated CIA profile of “Mike” "An Angry Young Black" supporter of Nelson Mandela. It is social/cultural history profile produced by the CIA on young black men in 1980s South Africa. 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81311655/Mike-An-Angry-Young-Black

If this Mandela reader is giving a different view of Mandela, this is because you're seeing Mandela as the American and South African governments viewed and portrayed him at that time. He had yet to win. He was still a terrorist. The ANC was still a Soviet-backed terrorist organization.

Here is a 10/28/1961 Central Intelligence Bulletin reported on a sabotage campaign by the African National Congress which was called for by Mandela and which “would concentrate initially on telephone lines and government offices but later might include roadblocks and railroad sabotage.”

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81311955/10281961-Central-Intelligence-Bulletin

This 3/31/1979 National Intelligence Daily reports on the African National Congress's view that “terrorism, civil disorder, strikes, and propaganda are the only practical means now available to break down authority within South Africa.” It also reported that the ANC was receiving assistance from the Soviet Union, Cubans, and East Germany while possessing infrastructure in Mozambique, Zambia,  Tanzania, and Swaziland.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81312215/3311979-National-Intelligence-Daily-Cable

This NIE -94-4: Prospects for the South African Transition- is an estimative product on how the transaction from apartheid would occur. The US IC predicted a 1 in 20 chance which, the CIA believed "would push South Africa to the brink of anarchy" and lead the ANC to "resort to large-scale violence to protest such an outcome." This wasn't the only violence predicted by the CIA. This NIE is laden with violent end game scenarios resulting murder, mayhem, and bloodshed.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81315845/Prospects-for-the-South-African-Transition

In addition to the violence, this NIE is notable for calling out early Nelson Mandela's commitment to economic pragmatism. Too bad, Mandela's supporters didn't read this he smashed their hopes for economic justice. The CIA also predicted a 1 in 100 chance of an act of nuclear terrorism.

SNIE 73.2-85 Prospects for South Africa:  Stability, Reform, and Violence has very little about Mandela, but a great deal of information on the cultural, social, economic, and military situation.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81312510/SNIE-732-85-Prospects-for-South-Africa-Stability-Reform-And-Violence 

My favorite two factoids:

1. One in 8 South African whites were involved in the internal defense structure necessary to maintain apartheid in mid 1980s. 
2. Interestingly, black townships were built to facilitate white dominance. As documented by the NIE Township roads wide enough for a South African armored personnel carrier to make a U-turn, House built no closer than  a specified distance so as not to impede police weapons fire and to make it more difficult for a fugitive to evade authoritiesConvenient vantage points for police vehicles to gather and monitor wide areas of the townships.A distance between the boundaries of the township and main highways in the area that exceeded the range of a high-powered rifle, presumably to protect travelers from snipers and even errant police shots in the event of a serious disturbance.   

Libya's support to the African National Congress paid off when Mandela, grateful for Libyan assistance during the anti-apartheid struggle, called for the end of sanctions against the Qaddafi regime. South Africa also began to cultivate Libya as a market for South African goods.

9/9/1998 Sub-Saharan Africa: Seeking Pragmatic Relations with Rogue States

http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/81313403?access_key=key-2f6tijdx8fqhe0wmryye

SNIE 73-86 The African National Congress of South Africa: Organization, Communist Ties, and Short-Term Prospects contains a great deal of background information on the ANC and its organization allies.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81312855/SNIE-73-86-the-African-National-Congress-of-South-Africa-Organization-Communist-Ties-and-Short-Term-Prospects

Key highlights and fun factoids:

1. The ANC was "externally based and bureaucratically complex organization."
2. The CIA estimated a quarter of the ANC were also members of the South African Communist Party.
3. It also notes that Mandela didn't even hold an official position in the ANC despite being popularly viewed as its leader.