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The CIA, initially created to combat communism, evolved under Allen Dulles into a group of assassins and a tool for American corporate power. They began using coups and disinformation campaigns within the US. The intelligence community has significant power to retaliate against those who challenge them, as Chuck Schumer warns. The media often unknowingly assists the CIA by publishing leaked information, a tactic employed since the 1970s. The CIA's major function is to disseminate propaganda and influence public opinion. They recruit journalists, including well-known figures, to control the stories that are introduced into the press.

During my time at the CIA, I was responsible for briefing the press and circulating disinformation. Disinformation is not necessarily a lie, but rather a half truth. We would select influential journalists and provide them with information that we wanted to convey to the American public. We targeted respected journalists like Robert Chaplin, Kais Beach, Bud Merrick, Malcolm Brown, and Maynard Parker. I would cultivate their trust by sharing valid information and then slip in the data we wanted to spread, which may not have been true. We would also create an environment where journalists couldn't fact-check by briefing diplomats who would confirm our false information. Personally, I am opposed to these disinformation activities as they serve no useful purpose for the CIA.

I briefed the press as an analyst and interrogator for the CIA, circulating disinformation to influence public opinion. I targeted influential journalists like Robert Chaplin and Kais Beach, planting false information to support US interests in Vietnam. I would also mislead reporters by briefing diplomats to provide false confirmation. Despite my involvement, I now oppose these propaganda tactics, believing they serve no purpose for the CIA.

The CIA has various functions, including running secret wars and spreading propaganda to influence people's minds. They manipulate journalists by providing them with both true and false stories, exploiting their vulnerabilities to control their actions. The Church Committee in 1975 revealed that around 400 journalists, including prominent names, cooperated with the CIA to introduce stories into the press. In the Angola war, a third of the speaker's staff was dedicated to propaganda. They would write stories, publish them in the Zambia Times, and then send them to journalists on their payroll in Europe, who would pretend to have received them from their own sources. The goal was to create false narratives about Cuban atrocities to demonize communists.

The speaker discusses the CIA's desire for an official secrets act to protect their operations. They mention that Americans often overlook the impact of CIA covert actions on citizens of other countries. The speaker recalls their realization of the CIA's main function, which is to intervene secretly in the affairs of other nations. They explain that the Covert Action Information Bulletin was founded to shed light on these activities, prompted by revelations from Watergate and various committee reports. The speaker emphasizes that the CIA's goal is to keep their actions hidden from the American people, while those affected by their operations are often aware of them.

There are functions of the CIA that include running secret wars and disseminating propaganda to influence people's minds, a major function that overlaps with information gathering. You have contact with a journalist; you will give him true stories and you’ll get information from him, and you will also give him false stories. You also work on human vulnerabilities to recruit journalists as agents to control what they do, so you don’t have to set them up by deception. You can tell them to plant stories on a schedule. Concrete evidence of using the press this way was highlighted by the church committee in 1975, and later by Woodward and Bernstein in Rolling Stone, noting that about 400 journalists cooperated with the CIA to consciously introduce stories in the press. A concrete example from Angola: one third of the staff was propaganda. There were propagandists around the world, principally in London, Kinshasa, and Zambia. They would take stories they wrote and put them in the Zambia Times, then pull them out and send them to a journalist on payroll in Europe. But the cover story was that the journalist had gotten them from his stringer in Lusaka who had gotten them from the Zambia Times, and after that point, the journalists, Reuters, and AFP, the management was not witting of it. The contact man in Europe was used to pump dozens of stories about Cuban atrocities, Cuban rapists, but there was not a single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know, eating babies for breakfast.

The CIA allegedly had 400 leading journalists in the U.S. as part of Operation Mockingbird, an illegal operation to compromise American journalism. Carl Bernstein published a list in 1973 naming these journalists who secretly worked for the CIA from prominent publications like The Washington Post and The New York Times. Many editors and publishers had security agreements with the CIA and acted as assets. The CIA is purportedly the biggest funder of journalism globally, spending $10 billion annually through USAID. It allegedly owns influential newspapers and magazines worldwide. The Smith Bond Act prohibits the CIA from propagandizing to Americans.

Speaker 0 says he briefed the press to circulate disinformation. 'Disinformation is not necessarily not necessarily a lie, it may be a half truth.' He targeted correspondents and cultivated them at the Caravelle to gain their confidence, doling out valid information and then introducing data 'which might not be true.' An example involved a supposed 1973 North Vietnamese effort to develop border airfields, aimed at persuading Congress that Saigon should continue to receive aid and that 'the North Vietnamese were the chief violators of the ceasefire accord.' If he planted information, he would create an environment where it could not be checked, briefing the British ambassador so the reporter would get false confirmation, 'I've got proof that Frank Snapp told me the truth.' He concludes: 'I am an ex CI agent opposed to these disinformation activities and admit I was involved; it served no useful purpose. Propagandizing the American public or Congress is not the CIA's job.'

Project Mockingbird aimed to control the public via media, but was less effective with the rise of alternative media like podcasts. To beat the "deep state," one must challenge it in unfamiliar territory. The Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, passed in 2012 and enacted in 2013, legalized propaganda for US citizens, repealing the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act which had prohibited domestic release. Obama essentially reopened the door for Operation Mockingbird, allowing the CIA to propagandize Americans. High-level intelligence officials or people associated with the intelligence industry are running journals. The CIA is the biggest funder of journalism in the world through USAID. Intelligence agencies manipulated information on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Before 1975, the CIA compromised journalists from major publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. Politicians are repeating the same talking points from a script like actors.

Planted stories intended for foreign countries were circulated in the US, raising concerns about CIA manipulation of news. CIA involvement with American journals and TV networks was discussed, with details kept confidential. CBS had contacts with the CIA, and the investigation will assess any wrongdoing. The use of CIA sources by reporters was considered acceptable in the past but requires caution now due to public scrutiny.

US politicians accuse other nations of election meddling, but the CIA has a long history of interfering in foreign affairs through military coups. In one example, the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Iran's prime minister for nationalizing the oil industry, leading to widespread violence and the installation of a US-friendly government. Declassified documents reveal the CIA's involvement in the coup, highlighting their use of propaganda and bribery. Despite claims of no longer meddling in elections, the CIA director openly admitted to continuing such actions for "very good reasons."

The discussion centers on concerns about the CIA’s influence over American media and how covert connections abroad could affect news domestically. Speaker 0 states a real concern: planted stories intended to serve a national purpose abroad could come back home and be circulated and believed in the United States, implying the CIA could manipulate the news in the U.S. by channeling it through a foreign country. The participants agree to examine this matter carefully. Speaker 1 raises a targeted question about individuals paid by the CIA contributing to major American journals, effectively asking whether there are CIA-paid contributors to prominent news outlets. Speaker 2 acknowledges that there are people who submit pieces to American journals and asks about whether any are paid by the CIA who are working for television networks, indicating a potential broader reach across media. Speaker 2 suggests that detailing “this kind of getting into the details” is something they would prefer to handle in an executive session, signaling a desire to limit public discussion at that stage. Speaker 3 provides historical context from CBS, noting that “the ships had been established” by the time the speaker became head of the news and public affairs operation in 1954, and that he was told to carry on with them, implying an established framework of CIA involvement or collaboration. Speaker 0 reiterates the need to evaluate the information and to “include any evidence of wrongdoing or any evidence of impropriety in our final report and make recommendations,” indicating a plan to compile findings and address possible abuses. The question is revisited: “Do you have any people being paid by the CIA who are contributing to the national news services, AP and UPI?” Speaker 2 again wants to move the discussion to an executive session, suggesting sensitivity about the specifics and possibly broader implications. Speaker 0 notes that the final report’s content or title “that remains to be decided,” leaving unresolved how the findings will be presented. Speaker 3 asserts that correspondents at the time “made use of the CIA agent chiefs of station and other members of the executive staff of CIA as sources of information which were useful in their assessments of world conditions,” indicating direct use of CIA personnel as information sources. The question is asked whether this practice continues today, and Speaker 3 responds affirmatively, though with caveat: due to revelations of the 1970s, a reporter “has got to be much more circumspect” and careful, or risk being looked at with considerable disfavor by the public. The speaker emphasizes the need for greater prudence in contemporary reporting in light of those revelations.

The CIA has various functions, some more legitimate than others. One function is to run secret wars, while another is to disseminate propaganda to influence people's minds. They use journalists to spread both true and false stories, exploiting their vulnerabilities to control them. In the past, the CIA had around 400 journalists cooperating with them, including well-known names. An example of their manipulation is seen in the Angola war, where they planted false stories about Cuban atrocities to create an illusion of communist brutality. This shows how the CIA uses the press to further their agenda.

Operation Mockingbird was a CIA program that recruited American journalists to write fake stories promoting the views of intelligence agencies. Some journalists were aware of their involvement, while others were unknowingly used as assets. The program began in the 1950s and continues to this day. Former CIA agents have confirmed the dissemination of half-truths and disinformation to the press.

The CIA has admitted to having operatives embedded in major media outlets to influence stories for their benefit. Reports indicate that they have relationships with reporters from various national news organizations, persuading them to alter or withhold stories that could threaten national security. Evidence from the Pike Committee revealed that 42 CIA employees were placed in key media centers, often as national security reporters. A Time Life board member remarked that journalists are merely taking dictation from powerful entities, indicating a loss of journalistic integrity. Some reporters have shared experiences of their stories being spiked by editors, and payments to these operatives were made discreetly, often without proper reporting to tax authorities.

The CIA has been known to plant inaccurate and fabricated news reports. In Angola, the CIA manipulated the media to push the narrative of Russian and Cuban aggression. They created stories and used propaganda to support their agenda. The CIA's efforts were successful, as newspapers around the world unknowingly published their fabricated stories. Similar tactics were used in Central America, particularly in the campaign against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The CIA spread disinformation about arms flow and Soviet bases in Nicaragua, despite evidence to the contrary. The media played a role in perpetuating these false narratives. It is important for readers to be critical of the news they consume and not believe everything they read.

In the 1970s, Carl Bernstein exposed Operation Mockingbird, revealing how the CIA influenced over 400 journalists to spread propaganda. The CIA manipulated major news outlets like The New York Times and CBS. The 2013 NDAA legalized domestic propaganda, allowing misinformation campaigns against Americans. Media ownership has consolidated to just 6 conglomerates like Comcast, Disney, and 21st Century Fox, controlling film, TV, and news. These conglomerates have significant influence over what the public sees and hears.

Operation Mockingbird involved the CIA compromising journalists to manipulate media narratives, with around 400 journalists reportedly involved. Despite promises to cease such activities after the Church Committee hearings, the CIA continued to influence journalism globally and is now a major funder of media. This manipulation extends to Hollywood, where the CIA has historically collaborated with filmmakers to shape public perception. Programs like MK Ultra aimed at mind control through unethical experiments, including drug use and psychological manipulation. The CIA's influence over media and entertainment raises concerns about the erosion of democracy and the integrity of information disseminated to the public. The connections between intelligence agencies and media corporations suggest a coordinated effort to shape societal narratives and control public opinion.

Many people misunderstand the CIA's role, believing it primarily gathers intelligence. In reality, it functions as a covert action agency, focusing on overthrowing or supporting foreign governments and conducting disinformation campaigns, particularly targeting the American public. The CIA develops relationships with the press through various means, including direct contacts and planting propaganda. While some journalists may knowingly publish CIA-favored articles, others may do so unknowingly. In Vietnam, the CIA created the Diem regime and used the press to promote an illusion of its legitimacy. During that time, the press and government often cooperated closely, viewing the CIA as a trustworthy entity. The CIA also established a system, referred to as Wiesner's Wurlitzer, to influence media narratives globally, with current efforts focused on rebuilding its covert operations and penetrating various institutions.

Intel agencies have a significant influence on television broadcasts, Facebook, and Google. Many anchors, including a national security reporter, act as mouthpieces for the Pentagon and the CIA, knowingly spreading lies. This is a common practice, even at CNN. These reporters read government propaganda from intel agencies, and it's frustrating and offensive, regardless of whether one agrees with the lies or not. For instance, when the CIA and Pentagon claimed that Bashar al Assad used poison gas, there was no evidence to support it. Despite this, many people were killed in response.

The CIA has the power to censor media institutions abroad and plans to expand this censorship industry worldwide to control political systems and elections. The American empire is disseminating this industry and assisting other countries in setting it up. It is a government-funded and society-coordinated effort, turning censorship into an industry. This paints a dark future.

The CIA's disinformation efforts aim to create an international anti-communist ideology to justify actions like overthrowing governments, such as in Nicaragua. This narrative links local conflicts to larger threats, making intervention seem necessary. While high-level officials may be aware of these operations, many in the State Department are often unaware. Examples include the controversial white paper on El Salvador, based on dubious documents, and various propaganda techniques. Although the CIA's covert actions are reportedly being rebuilt, manipulating the press today is more challenging due to increased skepticism among the public. While it might be possible to sell another war like Vietnam, it would require a more extensive and sustained effort.

The CIA is not just an intelligence agency, but also a covert action agency involved in overthrowing or supporting foreign governments and spreading disinformation, primarily targeting the American people. This disinformation is disseminated through the press to create an international anti-communist ideology. The goal is to justify actions like overthrowing the government of Nicaragua by linking it to a larger threat in order to gain public support.

Operation Mockingbird was a CIA program that recruited American journalists to write fake stories promoting the views of intelligence agencies. Some journalists were aware of their involvement, while others were unknowingly used as assets. The program began in the 1950s and continues to this day. The CIA paid these journalists, meaning taxpayers funded the operation. Former CIA agents have confirmed the dissemination of half-truths and disinformation to the press.

In Saigon, I operated under various covers, but those I interacted with knew I was with the CIA. I was there from 1969 to 1975, involved in analysis and press briefings, sometimes disseminating disinformation. Our success rate in planting information was about 70-80%. I targeted respected journalists to gain their trust and share data, which often included half-truths. While independent reporting was strong, many journalists were wary of CIA contacts. The CIA's primary objective is intelligence gathering, but disinformation can be counterproductive. After publishing my book, "Decent Interval," I faced a lawsuit for not submitting it for government censorship, leading to a Supreme Court ruling that imposed restrictions on government employees regarding their writings. The court's decision expanded the conditions for prior restraint, impacting First Amendment rights.