DOCSLIB.ORG

Soviet Influence Activities

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Soviet Influence Activities United States Department of State Soviet Influence Activities: A Report on Active Measures and Propaganda, 1986 - 87 August 1987 On the cover (from Pravda daily paper of the CPSU Central Committee, October 31, 1986): Caption above cartoon states: The AIDS virus, a terrible disease for which up to now no known cure has been found, was, in the opinion of some Western researchers, created in the laboratories of the Pentagon. The words on the flag emanating from the beaker state: Virus AIDS. Caption below the cartoon reads: Pentagon (AIDS) specialists. Department of State Publication 9627 Released October 1987 United States Department of State Soviet Influence Activities: A Report on Active Measures and Propaganda, 1986 - 87 August 1987 Preface In response to legislation passed in 1985, the Department Propaganda is distinct from active measures, yet the two of State on July 30,1986, submitted to Congress a document are closely integrated in fulfillment of Soviet foreign policy titled Active Measures: A Report on the Substance and objectives. The definition of propaganda used in this report Process of Anti-U.S. Disinformation and Propaganda is: information that reflects the perceptions or perspectives of Campaigns. This report updates that document, focusing on a government-in this case, the Soviet Union. Active events and changes which occurred between June 1986 and measures-such as the use of front groups or the spread of June 1987. Both reports were prepared by the Active Mea- disinformation (lies)--are deceptive operations that attempt to sures Working Group. manipulate the opinions and/or actions of individuals, The Active Measures Working Group is an interagency publics, or governments. They often are covert. committee chaired by the Department of State. In addition to Active measures, the focus of this report, cannot be State, membership includes representatives from the Central discussed without also addressing propaganda. The themes Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Information Agency, the Arms of propaganda are often reinforced by and are the raison Control and Disarmament Agency, the Defense Intelligence detre of active measures. Thus, while the main purpose of Agency, and the Departments of Defense and Justice. The this report is to reveal and describe Soviet influence activities Working Group is devoted to analyses of and responses to that are deceptive and illegitimate, they will be discussed in worldwide active measures against the United States. the overall context of Soviet propaganda. iii Table of Contents Page Preface .................................................................................................................................. iii Definition ............................................................................................................................. viii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ix Chapter I. Changes in the Soviet Active Measures Apparatus During 1986........................................................................... 1 Reorganization of the World Peace Council .............................................. 1 Changes in the International Department .................................................. 3 The Nonaligned Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .......................................................................................... 4 Footnotes .................................................................................................. 5 Appendix ................................................................................................... 6 Chapter II. Soviet Religious Organizations as a Tool of Influence .................................................................................................. 7 The Soviet Religious Propaganda Apparatus ........................................... 7 The Soviet Church as Foreign Policy Representative ............................... 7 The Millennium of Christianity in Russia (988-1988) ................................. 9 All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists .............................. 9 Catholics in the Soviet Union .................................................................... 9 The Anti-Zionist Committee ..................................................................... 10 Central Asian Muslims ............................................................................. 10 The Christian Peace Conference .............................................................. 11 The World Council of Churches ............................................................... 12 The Asian Buddhist Council for Peace ..................................................... 12 Chapter III. The Soviet Peace Committee .................................................................. 15 The Organization and Its Function ........................................................... 15 The Soviet Peace Fund ............................................................................. 17 Other Peace Committee Ties to the WPC ................................................. 17 Recent Trends in the Soviet Peace Movement ..................................... 18 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 21 Footnotes ................................................................................................. 21 Appendices: Appendix A....................................... ...................................................... 23 Appendix B........................................ ..................................................... 23 Appendix C........................................ ..................................................... 23 Appendix D........................................ ..................................................... 24 Appendix E........................................ ..................................................... 25 Appendix F........................................ ...................................................... 26 Appendix G........................................ ...................................................... 26 Appendix H........................................ ..................................................... 27 Chapter IV. Recent Anti-American Forgeries ........................................................... 29 Background ............................................................................................. 29 The NSC Policy Paper .......................................................................... 30 The Weinberger Report............................. .............................................. 30 USIA Letter to Senator Durenberger ......................................................30 Intelligence Service Memorandum ..........................................................31 State Department Cable ............ ................. ................................................31 Memorandum From President Reagan .....................................................32 Footnotes............................ ...................................... .... .. ............ ................32 v ................................................................................................................... Page Chapter V. The U.S.S.R.s AIDS Disinformation Campaign ....................................... 33 Overview ...................................................................................................33 The Origin of the AIDS Disinformation Campaign ....................................34 Soviet Media Pick Up the Campaign .........................................................34 Similarities to Earlier Soviet Charges .........................................................34 Purveyor of the Disinformation: Professor Jacob Segal ............................35 Why the Disinformation Is Untrue ............................................................35 What the Experts Say ................................................................................36 What Has Dr. Viktor Zhdanov Said? ..........................................................37 Replay of Segals Claims ............................................................................37 Tracing the Storys Dissemination.............................................................38 How a Story Is Spread ...............................................................................38 Appearances in 1987..................................................................................38 U.S. Military Bases Alleged To Be a Source of AIDS .............................................................. .................. ......................39 New Twists on the Original AIDS Canard .................................................40 Soviet Domestic Concern About AIDS .....................................................40 U.S. Actions To Counter the Disinformation .............................................41 Footnotes ..................................................................................................42 Appendices: Appendix A......................................... .............................44 Appendix B......................................... .............................44 Appendix C......................................... .............................45 Appendix D......................................... .............................45 Appendix E........................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • BEST PRACTICES in Anti-Terrorism Security for Sporting and Entertainment Venues RESOURCE GUIDE
    Command, Control and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis A Department of Homeland Security University Center of Excellence BEST PRACTICES in Anti-Terrorism Security for Sporting and Entertainment Venues RESOURCE GUIDE July 2013 Table of Contents Introduction to the Project ............................................................................................................7 Background...................................................................................................................................8 Identifying Best Practices in Anti-Terrorism Security in Sports Venues ......................................8 Identifying the Key Best Practices and Developing Metrics for Each .........................................11 Developing a Best Practices Resource Guide .............................................................................13 Testing the Guid e ........................................................................................................................13 Executive Summary....................................................................................................................13 Chapter 1 – Overview.................................................................................................................15 1.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................15 1.2 Risk Assessment ...................................................................................................................15
    [Show full text]
  • The Dark Unknown History
    Ds 2014:8 The Dark Unknown History White Paper on Abuses and Rights Violations Against Roma in the 20th Century Ds 2014:8 The Dark Unknown History White Paper on Abuses and Rights Violations Against Roma in the 20th Century 2 Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU) and Ministry Publications Series (Ds) can be purchased from Fritzes' customer service. Fritzes Offentliga Publikationer are responsible for distributing copies of Swedish Government Official Reports (SOU) and Ministry publications series (Ds) for referral purposes when commissioned to do so by the Government Offices' Office for Administrative Affairs. Address for orders: Fritzes customer service 106 47 Stockholm Fax orders to: +46 (0)8-598 191 91 Order by phone: +46 (0)8-598 191 90 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.fritzes.se Svara på remiss – hur och varför. [Respond to a proposal referred for consideration – how and why.] Prime Minister's Office (SB PM 2003:2, revised 02/05/2009) – A small booklet that makes it easier for those who have to respond to a proposal referred for consideration. The booklet is free and can be downloaded or ordered from http://www.regeringen.se/ (only available in Swedish) Cover: Blomquist Annonsbyrå AB. Printed by Elanders Sverige AB Stockholm 2015 ISBN 978-91-38-24266-7 ISSN 0284-6012 3 Preface In March 2014, the then Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag presented a White Paper entitled ‘The Dark Unknown History’. It describes an important part of Swedish history that had previously been little known. The White Paper has been very well received. Both Roma people and the majority population have shown great interest in it, as have public bodies, central government agencies and local authorities.
    [Show full text]
  • History's Mysteries
    History’s Mysteries: Research, Discuss and Solve some of History's Biggest Puzzles ISBN: 978-1-956159-00-4 (print) 978-1-956159-01-1 (ebook) Copyright 2021 Taylor Sapp, Catherine Noble, Peter Lacy, Mina Gavell, and Andrew Lawrence All rights reserved. Our authors, editors, and designers work hard to develop original, high-quality content. They deserve compensation. Please respect their efforts and their rights under copyright law. Do not copy, photocopy, or reproduce this book or any part of this book (unless the page is marked PHOTOCOPIABLE) for use inside or outside the classroom, in commercial or non-commercial settings. It is also forbidden to copy, adapt, or reuse this book or any part of this book for use on websites, blogs, or third-party lesson-sharing websites. For permission requests, write to the publisher at “ATTN: Permissions”, at the address below: 1024 Main St. #172 Branford, CT 06405 USA [email protected] www.AlphabetPublishingBooks.com Discounts on class sets and bulk orders available upon inquiry. Edited by Walton Burns Interior and Cover Design by Red Panda Editorial Services Country of Manufacture Specified on Last Page First Printing 2021 Table of Contents Other Creative Writing Books by Alphabet Publishing ii Table of Contents v How to Use this Collection viii Section I - Monsters and Mysterious Creatures What Happened to the Dinosaurs? 2 The Loch Ness Monster 7 The Elusive Ivory-billed Woodpecker 13 Bigfoot: Ancient Ape of The Northwest 18 It’saBird?It’saPlane?It’saPicasso 23 Section II - Heroes and Villains Genghis Khan: Villain or Hero 31 The Children’s Crusade 37 Artist or Monster? Stop Adolf Hitler 44 Lyuh Woon-hyung and the Division of Korea 50 Who Killed Tupac? 55 Section III - Famous Unsolved Crimes and Criminals Who Was Jack the Ripper? 61 The Osage Indian Murders 67 D.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Evaluating the Communist Guomindang Split of 1927
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School March 2019 Nationalism and the Communists: Re-Evaluating the Communist Guomindang Split of 1927 Ryan C. Ferro University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Scholar Commons Citation Ferro, Ryan C., "Nationalism and the Communists: Re-Evaluating the Communist Guomindang Split of 1927" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7785 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Nationalism and the Communists: Re-Evaluating the Communist-Guomindang Split of 1927 by Ryan C. Ferro A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-MaJor Professor: Golfo Alexopoulos, Ph.D. Co-MaJor Professor: Kees Boterbloem, Ph.D. Iwa Nawrocki, Ph.D. Date of Approval: March 8, 2019 Keywords: United Front, Modern China, Revolution, Mao, Jiang Copyright © 2019, Ryan C. Ferro i Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………….…...ii Chapter One: Introduction…..…………...………………………………………………...……...1 1920s China-Historiographical Overview………………………………………...………5 China’s Long
    [Show full text]
  • Deception, Disinformation, and Strategic Communications: How One Interagency Group Made a Major Difference by Fletcher Schoen and Christopher J
    STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES 11 Deception, Disinformation, and Strategic Communications: How One Interagency Group Made a Major Difference by Fletcher Schoen and Christopher J. Lamb Center for Strategic Research Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University The Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) is National Defense University’s (NDU’s) dedicated research arm. INSS includes the Center for Strategic Research, Center for Complex Operations, Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, Center for Technology and National Security Policy, Center for Transatlantic Security Studies, and Conflict Records Research Center. The military and civilian analysts and staff who comprise INSS and its subcomponents execute their mission by conducting research and analysis, publishing, and participating in conferences, policy support, and outreach. The mission of INSS is to conduct strategic studies for the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Unified Combatant Commands in support of the academic programs at NDU and to perform outreach to other U.S. Government agencies and the broader national security community. Cover: Kathleen Bailey presents evidence of forgeries to the press corps. Credit: The Washington Times Deception, Disinformation, and Strategic Communications: How One Interagency Group Made a Major Difference Deception, Disinformation, and Strategic Communications: How One Interagency Group Made a Major Difference By Fletcher Schoen and Christopher J. Lamb Institute for National Strategic Studies Strategic Perspectives, No. 11 Series Editor: Nicholas Rostow National Defense University Press Washington, D.C. June 2012 Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Defense Department or any other agency of the Federal Government.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Cold War Contested Truth
    Cold War Contested Truth: Informants, Surveillance, and the Disciplining of Black Radicalism, 1947-1957 Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD Africana Studies and Political Science Carleton College [email protected] (510) 717-9000 Introduction During the height of the era of McCarthyism, roughly 1947-1957, Black radicalism was surveilled, disciplined, discredited, and criminalized through a multitude of anticommunist technologies. These included “parallelism,” red-baiting, infiltration, and guilt by association. McCarthyism was constituted by a range of legislation meant to fortify the U.S. security state against the Communist threat, starting with the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, and including the Alien Registration Act of 1940 (commonly known as the Smith Act); the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (often referred to as the Taft-Hartley Act); Executive Order 9835 of 1947 (the “Loyalty Order”) and its supersession by Executive Order 10450 in 1953; the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations; and the Internal Security Act of 1950 (also known as the McCarran Act). It was under this legal architecture that scores of activists and scholars who defied Cold War statist pedagogy were indicted, deported, incarcerated, surveilled, and forced underground. This paper uses the examples of the the Peace Information Center (PIC) the Sojourners for Truth and Justice (STJ), and the Council on African Affairs (CAA) to elucidate that career confidential informants, “stool pigeons,” and “turncoats” were instrumental to the Cold War state apparatus’s transmogrification of Black radicals committed to anti-imperialism, anticolonialism, antiracism, peace, and the eradication of economic exploitation into criminals and subversives. Black 1 radicalism can be understood as African descendants’ multivalent and persistent praxis aimed at dismantling structures of domination that sustain racialized dispossession, exploitation, and class-based domination.
    [Show full text]
  • Signature Redacted Certified By: William Fjricchio Professor of Compa Ive Media Studies Thesis Supervisor Signature Redacted Accepted By
    Manufacturing Dissent: Assessing the Methods and Impact of RT (Russia Today) by Matthew G. Graydon B.A. Film University of California, Berkeley, 2008 SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY JUNE 2019 C2019 Matthew G. Graydon. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. S~ri' t A Signature red acted Department of Comparative 6/ledia Studies May 10, 2019 _____Signature redacted Certified by: William fJricchio Professor of Compa ive Media Studies Thesis Supervisor Signature redacted Accepted by: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE Professor of Comparative Media Studies _OF TECHNOLOGY Director of Graduate Studies JUN 1 12019 LIBRARIES ARCHIVES I I Manufacturing Dissent: Assessing the Methods and Impact of RT (Russia Today) by Matthew G. Graydon Submitted to the Department of Comparative Media Studies on May 10, 2019 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Comparative Media Studies ABSTRACT The state-sponsored news network RT (formerly Russia Today) was launched in 2005 as a platform for improving Russia's global image. Fourteen years later, RT has become a self- described tool for information warfare and is under increasing scrutiny from the United States government for allegedly fomenting unrest and undermining democracy. It has also grown far beyond its television roots, achieving a broad diffusion across a variety of digital platforms.
    [Show full text]
  • The Comintern in China
    The Comintern in China Chair: Taylor Gosk Co-Chair: Vinayak Grover Crisis Director: Hannah Olmstead Co-Crisis Director: Payton Tysinger University of North Carolina Model United Nations Conference November 2 - 4, 2018 University of North Carolina 2 Table of Contents Letter from the Crisis Director 3 Introduction 5 Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang 7 The Mission of the Comintern 10 Relations between the Soviets and the Kuomintang 11 Positions 16 3 Letter from the Crisis Director Dear Delegates, Welcome to UNCMUNC X! My name is Hannah Olmstead, and I am a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am double majoring in Public Policy and Economics, with a minor in Arabic Studies. I was born in the United States but was raised in China, where I graduated from high school in Chengdu. In addition to being a student, I am the Director-General of UNC’s high school Model UN conference, MUNCH. I also work as a Resident Advisor at UNC and am involved in Refugee Community Partnership here in Chapel Hill. Since I’ll be in the Crisis room with my good friend and co-director Payton Tysinger, you’ll be interacting primarily with Chair Taylor Gosk and co-chair Vinayak Grover. Taylor is a sophomore as well, and she is majoring in Public Policy and Environmental Studies. I have her to thank for teaching me that Starbucks will, in fact, fill up my thermos with their delightfully bitter coffee. When she’s not saving the environment one plastic cup at a time, you can find her working as the Secretary General of MUNCH or refereeing a whole range of athletic events here at UNC.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019 27Th Annual Poets House Showcase Exhibition Catalog
    2019 27th Annual Poets House Showcase Exhibition Catalog Poets House | 10 River Terrace | New York, NY 10282 | poetshouse.org ELCOME to the 2019 Poets House Showcase, our annual, all-inclusive exhibition of the most recent poetry books, chapbooks, broadsides, artists’ books, and multimedia works published in the United States and W abroad. This year marks the 27th anniversary of the Poets House Showcase and features over 3,300 books from more than 800 different presses and publishers. For 27 years, the Showcase has helped to keep our collection current and relevant, building one of the most extensive collections of poetry in our nation—an expansive record of the poetry of our time, freely available and open to all. Building the Exhibit and the Poets House Library Collection Every year, Poets House invites poets and publishers to participate in the annual Showcase by donating copies of poetry titles released since January of the previous year. This year’s exhibit highlights poetry titles published in 2018 and the first part of 2019. Books have been contributed by the entire poetry community, from the publishers who send on their titles as they’re released, to the poets who mail us signed copies of their newest books, to library visitors donating books when they visit us. Every newly published book is welcomed, appreciated, and featured in the Showcase. The Poets House Showcase is the mechanism through which we build our library: a comprehensive, inclusive collection of over 70,000 poetry works, all free and open to the public. To make it as extensive as possible, we reach out to as many poetry communities and producers as we can, bringing together poetic voices of all kinds to meet the different needs and interests of our many library patrons.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence
    Russia • Military / Security Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 5 PRINGLE At its peak, the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti) was the largest HISTORICAL secret police and espionage organization in the world. It became so influential DICTIONARY OF in Soviet politics that several of its directors moved on to become premiers of the Soviet Union. In fact, Russian president Vladimir V. Putin is a former head of the KGB. The GRU (Glavnoe Razvedvitelnoe Upravleniye) is the principal intelligence unit of the Russian armed forces, having been established in 1920 by Leon Trotsky during the Russian civil war. It was the first subordinate to the KGB, and although the KGB broke up with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the GRU remains intact, cohesive, highly efficient, and with far greater resources than its civilian counterparts. & The KGB and GRU are just two of the many Russian and Soviet intelli- gence agencies covered in Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence. Through a list of acronyms and abbreviations, a chronology, an introductory HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries, a clear picture of this subject is presented. Entries also cover Russian and Soviet leaders, leading intelligence and security officers, the Lenin and Stalin purges, the gulag, and noted espionage cases. INTELLIGENCE Robert W. Pringle is a former foreign service officer and intelligence analyst RUSSIAN with a lifelong interest in Russian security. He has served as a diplomat and intelligence professional in Africa, the former Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. For orders and information please contact the publisher && SOVIET Scarecrow Press, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Organization of the Soviet Intelligence and Security Structure Source
    Figure 1- Organization of the Soviet Intelligence and Security Structure General Chairman First Deputy Chairman Chief, GRU Deputy Chairman Space Intelligence Operational/ Technical Administrative/ Directorate for Foreign First Deputy Chief Chief of Information Personnel Directorate Political Department Financial Department Eighth Department Archives Department (KGB) Directorate Directorate Technical Directorate Relations First Chief Directorate First Directorate: Seventh Directorate: (Foreign) Europe and Morocco NATO Second Directorate: North and South Second Chief Eighth Directorate: America, Australia, Directorate (Internal) Individual Countries New Zealand, United Kingdom Fifth Chief Directorate Ninth Directorate: Third Directorate: Asia (Dissidents) Military Technology Eighth Chief Fourth Directorate: Tenth Directorate: Directorate Africa Military Economics (Communications) Fifth Directorate: Chief Border Troops Eleventh Directorate: Operational Directorates Doctrine, Weapons Intelligence Sixth Directorate: Third (Armed Forces) Twelfth Directorate: Radio, Radio-Technical Directorate Unknown Intelligence Seventh (Surveillance) First Direction: Institute of Directorate Moscow Information Ninth (Guards) Second Direction: East Information Command Directorate and West Berlin Post Third: National Technical Operations Liberation Directorate Movements, Terrorism Administration Fourth: Operations Directorate from Cuba Personnel Directorate Special Investigations Collation of Operational Experience State Communications Physical Security Registry and Archives Finance Source: (Richelson 22, 27) Figure 2- Organization of the United States Intelligence Community President National Security Advisor National Security DNI State DOD DOJ DHS DOE Treasury Commerce Council Nuclear CIO INR USDI FBI Intelligence Foreign $$ Flow Attachés Weapons Plans DIA NSA NGA NRO Military Services NSB Coast Guard Collection MSIC NGIC (Army) MRSIC (Air Analysis AFMic Force) NCTC J-2's ONI (Navy) CIA Main DIA INSCOM (Army) NCDC MIA (Marine) MIT Source: (Martin-McCormick) .
    [Show full text]
  • H-Diplo ARTICLE REVIEW 998 17 November 2020
    H-Diplo ARTICLE REVIEW 998 17 November 2020 Douglas Selvage. “Operation ‘Denver’: The East German Ministry of State Security and the KGB’s AIDS Disinformation Campaign, 1985-1986.” Journal of Cold War Studies 21:4 (Fall 2019): 71-123. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_00907. https://hdiplo.org/to/AR998 Review Editors: Thomas Maddux and Diane Labrosse | Production Editor: George Fujii Review by Meredith L. Roman, SUNY Brockport ouglas Selvage’s in-depth exploration of the role that the Soviet Committee on State Security (KGB) and the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi) and its Main Directorate for Intelligence (HVA) played in spreading Ddisinformation about the origins of the HIV virus that causes AIDS is particularly timely. The global COVID-19 pandemic has inspired conspiracy theories and disinformation efforts that are not based on scientific evidence but on racial prejudices in the case of the Trump White House, and, with regard to President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, a history inherited from its Soviet predecessor of identifying the CIA as an evil mastermind of infectious diseases. Selvage’s impressive research yields a detailed, multi-layered analysis of the ways in which different actors with varying objectives invested in the narrative that the U.S. government created the HIV virus as part of its bioweapons research program for its potential use in a future war or against despised groups domestically and internationally. “Operation ‘Denver’” is the first installment in a two-part essay project that draws partly on a monograph Selvage co-published in the German language in 2014 with historian Christopher Nehring.1 In this article, Selvage contends that the Stasi and HVA played an auxiliary role in the 1985-1986 efforts of the KGB to spread disinformation about AIDS, but assumed a more prominent role in the campaign by 1987 – the evidence of which he will outline in a future essay.
    [Show full text]