History Commons^™

A Fake Future: The Threat Of Foreign Disinformation On The U.S. And Its Allies, Brandon M. Rubsamen

Global Tides

This paper attempts to explain the threat that foreign disinformation poses for the United States Intelligence Community and its allies. The paper examines Russian disinformation from both a historical and contemporary context and how its effect on Western democracies may only be exacerbated in light of Chinese involvement and evolving technologies. Fortunately, the paper also studies practices and strategies that the United States Intelligence Community and its allied foreign counterparts may use to respond. It is hoped that this study will help shed further light on Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns and explain how the Intelligence Community can efficiently react.

Bondmania: Spy Films, American Foreign Policy, And The New Frontier Of The 1960s, Luke Pearsons

All Master's Theses

The topic of this thesis are spy films that were produced during the Cold War, with a specific focus on the James Bond films and their numerous imitators. The goal is to explore why these films were popular, particularly during the decade of the 1960s, and how these films and characters were used to address a number of anxieties that faced the United States in this period. The character of James Bond in these films established the dominance of a particular character type and provided a sense of wish fulfillment for a certain segment of the audience. His presence asserted …

Divided Agencies: Internal Strife In The Fight Against Castro, Stephanie R. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. State Department differed in their approaches to dealing with the Castro regime from 1959 through the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Using declassified documents from the CIA and State Department, I argue that the approaches of the CIA in dealing with the Castro regime were more aggressive than the approaches of the U.S. State Department. Many of the primary sources used in this work were accessed in the CIA electronic reading room and on the office of the historian website. The office of the historian is an …

Whose Monster? A Study In The Rise To Power Of Al Qaeda And The Taliban, Nicholas Kotarski

History Theses

This thesis seeks to determine which factors and parties were most responsible for the transformation of the Mujahedeen who pushed the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan into what would eventually become al Qaeda and the Taliban in the 1990s. First brought to America's attention due to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, they would gain increased notoriety as the decade progressed due to the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women, and finally culminating in the tragic terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001.

Ike’S Constitutional Venturing: The Institutionalization Of The Cia, Covert Action, And American Interventionism, Jacob A. Bruggeman

Grand Valley Journal of History

U.S. covert action from the 1950s onward was shaped, in part, by the success a CIA-orchestrated coup d'état in which the United States deposed the popular Iranian nationalist Mohammed Mossadegh. Ordered by president Eisenhower, the coup in Iran set the precedent for utilizing covert action as a means of achieving State goals. In so doing, President Eisenhower overturned the precedent set by his immediate predecessor, President Truman: that is, the precedent of using the CIA in its intended function, gathering and evaluating intelligence. The coup, then, is an exemplary case of venture constitutionalism. Eisenhower, in ordering the coup, extended his …

Writing About Espionage Secrets, Kristie Macrakis

Secrecy and Society

This article describes the author’s experiences researching three books on espionage history in three different countries and on three different topics. The article describes the foreign intelligence arm of the Ministry for State Security; a global history of secret writing from ancient to modern times; and finally, my current project on U.S. intelligence and technology from the Cold War to the War on Terror. The article also discusses the tensions between national security and openness and reflects on the results of this research and its implications for history and for national security.

The Story Of The Berlin Tunnel: What The Operations Narrative Teaches Us About Covert Conflict In An Ongoing Cold War, Jonathan Collier

Graduate Thesis Collection

Operation Gold (1953-56) was a collaborative covert operation between the American CIA and British SIS. The two major objectives: firstly, rebalance the state of affairs in covert activity, which the KGB had been dominating heading into the 1950s. Secondly, gain more detailed, valuable information on the state of Soviet forces throughout Europe and gain prior warning of possible information. The technological nature of the operation marks it as the beginning of a move away from traditional espionage. Understanding the narrative of Operation Gold establishes a firm foundation on which to address the development of covert activity into the modern day. …

“Better Unmentioned:” An Assessment Of Reagan Administration Aid To Pakistan, Panama, And Zaire., Charles G. Sherrard

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract.

During the Cold War, the Reagan administration justified American support to the Noriega dictatorship in Panama, the Mobutu dictatorship in what was then called Zaire, and the regime of Zia ul-Haq in Pakistan, by stating that it was necessary to overcome the Soviet Union. While the alliances with these regimes did help to bring about the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, each of these three regimes also acted against US interests via the promotion of drug smuggling or militancy, or forging other alliances with powers potentially hostile to American interests .[1] However, Soviet quagmires in these …

Cia In Laos: A Secret Collaboration Of Cia And Hmong, Mingze Linghu

Senior Projects Fall 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Project Mkultra And The Search For Mind Control: Clandestine Use Of Lsd Within The Cia, Tani M. Linville

History Capstone Research Papers

From 1953 to 1964 the CIA engaged in various clandestine operations to manipulate the human mind. With the relatively new discovery of LSD, scientists around the world became interested in its ability to be used for both defensive and offensive measures in the interest of national security. Minimal documentation was kept on the extent of the research conducted on the manipulation of the human mind. The Intelligence agents, physicians, researchers, and other involved in the MKULTRA experiments were in direct violation of ethical codes previously set in place prior to the program, including the Hippocratic Oath, U.S. Constitution, Nuremberg Code, …

An Interview With David H.Petraeus, General (Usa Retired), Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

America's War In Angola, 1961-1976, Alexander Joseph Marino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A study of the role played by the United States in Angola's War of Independence and the Angolan Civil War up to 1976.

Nazi Collaborators, American Intelligence, And The Cold War: The Case Of The Byelorussian Central Council, Mark Alexander

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

When the military forces of the Third Reich invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the German authorities used local anti-Communist collaborators to facilitate the invasion and the occupation of the conquered territories. Many of these Byelorussian collaborators became complicit in the perpetration of the Holocaust and eagerly created a puppet regime under the direct control of the Schutzstaffel (SS). However, this regime and the crimes of its members remain largely unknown.

As the Third Reich crumbled, the members of the SS-sponsored Byelorussian Central Council (BCC) hid themselves in the confusion of postwar Europe’s Displaced Persons camps, where they began …

Partners Or Competitors? The Evolution Of The Department Of Defense/Central Intelligence Agency Relationship Since Desert Storm And Its Prospects For The Future, David Oakley

David P Oakley

Over the last decade, wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and global counterterrorism operations have led to a significant increase in the partnership between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). While recent conflicts helped develop the CIA/DoD relationship, legislative action and organizational changes that began in the 1990s in response to Desert Storm and the changing post-Cold War landscape set the foundation for partnership development. Although the CIA/DoD partnership appears to be closer than ever before, there are certain issues and conditions that could, for better or worse, affect how the partnership evolves in the future. Understanding …

The Struggle Against Bandits: The Cuban Revolution And Responses To Cia-Sponsored Counter-Revolutionary Activity, 1959-1963, Anthony Rossodivito M

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Following the 1959 victory of the Cuban revolution, the United States government along with the CIA and their Cuban émigré allies immediately undertook a campaign of subversion and terrorism against the Cuban revolution. From 1959 until 1963 a clandestine war was waged between supporters of the revolution and the counter-revolutionary organizations backed by Washington. This project is a new synthesis of this little-known story. It is an attempt to shed light on a little known aspect of the conflict between the United States government and the Cuban revolution by bringing together never-before seen primary sources, and utilizing the two distinct …

The Birth Of A Drone Nation: American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Since 1917, Garrett Dale Mckinnon

LSU Master's Theses

Drones have entered American consciousness and society. Little attention, however, has been paid to how America got here, how it became a drone nation. This thesis seeks to counter the “New Drone” misconception, the general ignorance of drone history present in the historiography, and popular perception of the subject. Chapter one, “The “New Drone” Misconception: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the World Wars,” examines America’s first experiments with military drones. Charles Kettering, “Hap” Arnold, and Reginald Denny were among the first to recognize UAV potential and garner American support. The main motivation for drone use--removing American soldiers from danger--was first recognized …

The Cia’S Past And Future, James Bohland

Ex-Patt Magazine

As the 100th birthday of Sherman Kent, the “father of Intelligence Analysis” approaches, Ex-Patt looks at the CIA and its direction.

The United States And The Overthrow Of Kwame Nkrumah, Eric Quaidoo

Master's Theses

February 24, 1966 is regarded by many Ghanaians as the Waterloo in the history of Ghana, and Ghanaians would not like it to be mentioned so as to rekindle old wounds considering the hardships the country went through from that period until accepting democratic rule in the early 1990s. On that fateful day the first Republic of Ghana was overthrown in a military coup d’état when the first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was on a peacemaking mission in Vietnam. Most Ghanaians and Africans continue to point accusing fingers at the United States for this unfortunate incident that brought not only …

American Hypocrisy In Foreign Policy: Operation Fubelt And The Overthrow Of Salvador Allende, David G. Huggins

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

There are many examples of United States hypocrisy in foreign policy, in numerous countries in virtually every region of the world. This paper will look at just one of those examples, the United States involvement in the overthrow of President Salvador Allende of Chile. Declassified government documents related to the CIA operation, codenamed FUBELT, are used to show key personnel involved and major aspects of the operation. These documents show a blatant disregard of the United States government's own ideology and policies regarding democracy, as well as its disregard of the United Nations documents that it signed to guarantee the …

Through Adversity, It Became Strong: The Establishment Of The Oss, The Opposition It Faced, And Its Overall Success, Olivia Blessing

Olivia L Blessing

Fulfillment of the United States’ need for intelligence research and analysis during World War II came through William Donovan’s leadership of the Coordinator of Information (COI) and its offspring, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), despite the early problems both agencies faced. Donovan and the OSS would later play a major part in the Allies’ victory over Axis forces. By overcoming the bureaucratic and procedural issues at home and abroad, The Office of Strategic Services firmly established itself as a necessary force in the world of information during the war against the Axis.

Interview With B. Hugh Tovar, Paul Hillmer

Hmong Oral History Project

Bernardo Hugh Tovar was born on December 27, 1922 in Bogota, Columbia. His father was Columbian and his mother Irish. His family moved to Chicago in 1924, but his family frequently visited Columbia in his early youth. As a result he grew up bilingual. He attended Portsmouth Priory School in Rhode Island (1941), before attending Harvard, where he also learned French. His ROTC class was called to active duty in June 1943, though he was awarded a degree in 1944 because he passed his comprehensive exams. He graduated as a second lieutenant. After various assignments and training in Infantry, Artillery …

Interview With Vint Lawrence, Paul Hillmer

Interviews

Born in New York City to what he describes as “a very privileged childhood…in every possible way,” J. Vinton (“Vint”) Lawrence attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Princeton University. Recruited by the CIA, he was sent to Laos in the very early days of “Operation Momentum,” the campaign to train and arm the Hmong to fight against Communist forces. Arriving in Laos in February 1962, Lawrence was sized up by Bill Lair, worked under Lair’s lieutenant Pat Landry to train some of the first groups of Hmong soldiers, and ultimately became one of only two CIA operatives (along with the infamous …

Vint Lawrence Interview, Michael Reed

Interviews

No abstract provided.

Interview No. 702, Martha Lou Broaddus, Mohrhauser J. Broaddus

Combined Interviews

Recollections of professors, sororities and fraternities, pranks, dress codes, going to Juarez, and other campus activities.

Interview No. 509, The Cia's Secret Army

Combined Interviews

Audio portion of CBS-TV Special Report on CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles who have fought against Castro. Host: Bill Moyers.