46 men against the atheistic Communist sys the infidels, a defense of free God-fearing by “hysteria andparanoia.” ed not by reality, he wrote in a memoir, but war against theSoviet Union—was motivat The central effort in CIA history—the secret been pointless andeven counter-productive. career, Rositzke concludedthatithadall the very extermination oftheUnited States. believed it was urgently necessary to prevent riors, andtheir bossesinthe White House brutal kindof work, butRositzke, hissupe the Iron Curtain.It was thehardest andmost operatives totheir deaths onmissionsbehind directed sabotage operations, andsent many at weakening theSoviet Union. He ran spies, staggering array ofcovert operations aimed From a base in Munich he coordinated a given oneof America’s mosturgent jobs. line CIA officer namedHarry Rositzke was its hottestphaseintheearly 1950s,ahard A AMERICAN HISTORY

“The Cold War became a holy war against Decades later, lookingbackover his enemies ByStephen Kinzer by aCIA thatsaw only friendsor action was deemed too extreme No espionage operation or covert Holy War The CIA’s s theCold War entered - - - -

Cold War, run mainly by the Central Intel a failure ofintelligence.” The illusory image was atleastpartly dueto bureaucracy, andlarge areas ofcivil unrest. economy, anovertaxed civilian andmilitary country weakenedbyshattered a war, with ful Russia was remote from thereality ofa was an illusion. The specter ofapower tem,” herecalled. “As itturnedout,theimage sober assessments of the world, but in what of theUnited States. Their originlay notin can passion, weakening the nationalsecurity target countries, butalsospread anti-Ameri tory. They notonly devastated many ofthe operations lookfrom theperspective ofhis ishing ishow misbegotten mostofthese America’s foreign policy. Even more aston punish anyone inthe world who questioned ever possible, defiant ones,and ments subservient to theUnited States wher the Soviet Union, but also to impose govern and ambition. They aimednotonly tobleed ligence Agency, were breathtaking in scope American covert operations during the

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Photo by James Whitmore/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

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photo credit goes here they use where the does more Mossadegh. Prime Minister down freelyelected backed coup took 1953 after a CIA- Tehranin August Shah’s return to Iranians cheer the Hurrah for Shah JUNE 2016

47

Rositzke called “emotional excitability” and as the OSS had during wartime—engaged Global Ambition “systematic delusions of persecution.” not simply in espionage but also subversion, , in America’s approach to intelligence after bribery, intimidation, sabotage, violence and his CIA office in World War II was shaped by two coinciding “regime change.” The appointment of Dulles 1954, served in realities. First was the excruciating boredom was also ominous in another way. Eisenhow- the OSS in World that spread through the corps of former spies er had appointed John Foster Dulles, Allen’s War II and was and covert operatives who had served in the older brother, as Secretary of State. This was CIA chief from wartime Office of Strategic Services, Ameri- the only time in history that siblings directed 1953 to 1961. ca’s first true intelligence agency. After years the overt and covert sides of American for- of death-defying derring-do, running opera- eign policy. Under other circumstances, the tions against Axis powers that placed them State Department might have served as a and their agents on the edge of death every check on the CIA’s wildest impulses. Instead, day, they found themselves back in their for most of the 1950s the Dulles brothers jobs as Wall Street lawyers, stockbrokers and forged them into a single blunt instrument. investment bankers. Many of them—includ- Although the two brothers saw the ing Allen Dulles, who had been chief of the world in precisely the same way and worked OSS station in Switzerland during the war— intimately together, all who knew them spent long hours reminiscing about their remarked on how different they were in adventures and dreaming of ways to return personality. The elder, John Foster, was sol- to the cloak-and-dagger world. itary, imperious, dour, unfriendly, self-righ- The second reality that shaped Ameri- teous and socially awkward. Allen was can intelligence in the post-war era was the the opposite: a sparkling personality and emergence of a hostile Soviet Union. It quick- charming storyteller who had dozens of ly came to be seen not simply as a rival or mistresses ranging from Clare Booth Luce adversary, but a barbaric and evil force bent to Queen Frederika of Greece. The brothers on destroying the United States and free life lived profoundly different lives while work- everywhere. Against such an enemy, any and ing together to shape the world. all forms of resistance seemed justified. This Communism was the Dulles brothers’ gave OSS veterans their chance to return to central enemy, but directly attacking its the field of battle they so deeply missed. main centers—the Soviet Union and “Red China”—was out of the question. Recogniz- ing that fact, the CIA sought other enemies. It found them in countries that proclaimed themselves neutrals in the Cold War. “America’s policy is global,” Secretary of n 1947 Dulles helped draft the State Dulles told President Sukarno of Indo- National Security Act, which nesia, one of the neutralist leaders he and created the Central Intelligence his brother abhorred. “You must be on one Agency.I This CIA was radically different side or another. Neutralism is immoral.” from other Western secret services, especially Two perceptions shaped the Dulles those of Great Britain, widely considered the brothers’ approach to the world. First, they world’s best. Those services were shaped considered neutralist leaders to be enemies around the principle that intelligence gather- who were secretly in league with the Krem- ing and analysis must be kept strictly separate lin. Second, they believed that the Soviet from covert action, to avoid the temptation of threat—and by extension the threat from skewing intelligence reports so they would neutralist countries—was so great that it lead to the conclusion that covert action was justified any counter-operations, no matter necessary. The CIA was created without this how violent or extreme. firewall. Indeed, Dulles conceived it as an “It is now clear that we are facing an agency designed not to help American leaders implacable enemy whose avowed objective understand the world, but to help them change is world domination by whatever means and more does the w here more does the w here it—by any means necessary. at whatever cost,” General James Doolittle Soon after his inauguration in 1953, Pres- wrote in a secret 1954 report to President ident Dwight Eisenhower named Dulles to Eisenhower. “If the United States is to sur- direct the agency he had helped create. This vive, longstanding concepts of ‘fair play’

guaranteed that the CIA would behave much must be reconsidered…It may be necessary more does the where use use they they here here goes goes credit c redit photo p hoto more does the where use use they here here goes credit c redit photo p hoto

48 AMERICAN HISTORY Diem Dilemma President Diem of South Vietnam meets Ike and John Foster Dulles in 1957. In 1963 Diem died in a CIA-backed coup.

Sukarno No! Indonesia’s Sukarno, feted at the White House in 1956, fell out of favor for dealing with Soviet leader Khrushchev. amy Al amy / a l c H istori tion verettll e c Co k Photo c k S to Al amy y/ gen c here the does more does the w here more does the w here Photo A Photo iated Press (2); E (2); Press A sso c iated f t: Le f rom w ise o c k C l - TASS ITAR Photo; c k S to photo credit goes here they use where the does more does the where use use they they here here goes goes credit c redit photo p hoto more does the where use they here goes goes credit c redit photo p hoto

JUNE 2016 49 that the American people be made acquaint- ed with, understand and support this funda- mentally repugnant philosophy.” Eisenhower agreed. “I have come to the conclusion that some of our traditional ideas of international sportsmanship are scarcely applicable in the morass in which the world now flounders,” he wrote. No one knew it at the time, but Eisenhow- er was an enthusiastic supporter of the CIA’s most radical schemes. Like the Dulles broth- ers, he had been shaped by his World War II experience. He saw covert action as a kind of peace project—a way the United States could work, short of war, its will in the world. President Truman used the CIA for covert action, including against Communist labor unions in France and influencing Italy’s 1948 election. He refused, however, to approve any proposal aimed at overthrowing a govern- ment. Eisenhower had no such scruple. The first two foreign leaders the CIA set out to overthrow after Eisenhower’s inaugu- ration had both tormented the Dulles broth- ers when they were lawyers at the legendary Geneva Jitters firm of Sullivan & Cromwell. The first, Prime With the French Mohammad Mossadegh of , had been under siege at instrumental in killing a huge contract Allen Dien Bien Phu in Dulles had negotiated between Iran and one August 1954 John of his clients, an engineering consortium Foster Dulles and called Overseas Consultants Inc. After that, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov Mossadegh had nationalized his country’s leave tense talks. oil industry, which had been owned by the British government and used another Sulli- van & Cromwell client, the Schroeder Bank, Do You Read? The Delco 5300 as its financial agent. In just a few weeks was a small but during the summer of 1953, the CIA threw powerful radio Iran into chaos, promoted a military coup, preferred by the pushed Mossadegh from power, and placed CIA for covert the Shah back on his Peacock Throne. That operations in the led to 25 years of royal dictatorship, followed 1960s and ‘70s. by a revolution and the emergence of a vio- lently anti-American regime. useum, 3.3.5.1.3 M useum, y

Less than a year later, the Dulles brothers Sp struck against President Jacobo Arbenz of . His sins were equivalent to Mos- sadegh’s. He was promoting land reform that affected the interests of a longtime Sullivan

& Cromwell client, United Fruit, and seemed l G etty I nternationa I mages;

too friendly with Communists. The CIA orga- c hives/ nized a motley band of exiles into a bogus invasion force, bombed targets inside Guate- A r w ood mala, flooded the country with anti-Arbenz propaganda, and pushed military officers : Photo by U nder by Photo : o p to stage a coup. Arbenz was overthrown in T

June 1954. That set off a 30-year civil war in From B ettmann/Corbis

50 AMERICAN HISTORY which an estimated 200,000 people were Twice in 1960, that, so far as is known, no other president killed. Guatemala has never recovered. has ever done: order the assassination of Eisenhower and the Dulles brothers Eisenhower a foreign leader. His first target was Fidel believed Mossadegh and Arbenz posed did something Castro, whose revolutionary government political as well as economic challenges to in Cuba had put a decisive end to the influ- the United States. Both leaders were neu- that, so far ence of American politicians, businessmen tralists who refused to take sides in the Cold as is known, and gangsters in his country. After a brief- War. By deposing them, the United States ing from Allen Dulles on May 13, Eisen- sent a message: it would consider all coun- no other hower ordered Castro “sawed off.” Three tries not fully pro-American as enemies. president months later he approved plans to assassi- Over the next few years, the CIA set nate another leader he believed threatened out to destabilize governments in neutralist has ever done: American interests, Prime Minister Patrice countries from Costa Rica to Egypt to Cam- order the Lumumba of the Congo. bodia. One of its largest-scale efforts was in “Eisenhower was a tough man behind Indonesia, where President Sukarno had assassination that smile,” the CIA officer assigned to emerged as a hero of the emerging “third of a foreign oversee these plots, Richard Bissell, testi- world.” In 1956 the CIA began promot- fied years later. ing a civil war aimed at destroying Sukar- leader. To kill Castro, the CIA came up with a no’s government or, if that failed, splitting bizarre plan that involved Mafia assassins. the country so that part of it would secede and become Allen Dulles ordered the CIA’s top-secret “health alteration actively pro-American. It encouraged dissident officers committee” to make poison pills that were to be passed to to rebel, sent them large amounts of weaponry, and used agents thought to have access to Castro’s food. The same its own planes to bomb military bases and other targets. “health alteration committee” compounded poison tooth- The operation fell apart when one of the planes was shot paste to be given to Lumumba, and Allen Dulles sent one down. Its American pilot was captured, and was found to of his top operatives to deliver it to the CIA station chief be carrying dozens of documents that revealed the extent in the Congo. Miraculously—or because of sophisticat- of CIA involvement in Indonesia’s “civil war.” ed security measures—Castro survived murder plots and The most far-reaching misjudgment the Dulles broth- lived into old age. Lumumba was not so lucky. The CIA ers made—with Eisenhower’s full approval—was their and its partners from Belgium, the Congo’s former colonial decision to fight the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh. ruler, succeeded in overthrowing Lumumba, capturing In 1954, after Ho’s nationalist/Communist army dealt him, and then, on January 17, 1961, executing him. French occupiers a devastating defeat at Dien Bien Phu, Having failed to kill Castro, Eisenhower directed the world leaders met in Geneva to decide how to shape a CIA to find a way to depose him. Allen Dulles presented new Indochina. All major participants agreed that Ho him with a plan for an invasion staged by Cuban exiles. had earned the right to rule at least a portion of his coun- Eisenhower liked the idea, but the invasion could not be try—except Secretary of State Dulles. Rath- er than accept the reality of Ho’s power and Captured popularity, Dulles walked out of the Geneva CIA-trained Bay conference. It is the only time an American of Pigs invaders secretary of state abandoned a major diplo- are marched matic conference in midstream. to prison afer Immediately after returning to Wash- their capture by ington, Dulles directed his brother to begin Cuban forces on useum, 3.3.5.1.3 M useum, y April 21, 1961.

Sp covert warfare against Ho. It began quick- ly and soon grew into a massive operation. If that one man, John Foster Dulles, had not made that single decision and issued that sin- gle order—if he had agreed with the French l G etty I nternationa I mages; and British that Ho could not be defeated—

c hives/ the entire American involvement in Vietnam might have been avoided. It is difficult even ood A r w ood to imagine how different American, Viet- namese and world history would have been if Eisenhower and the Dulles brothers had not : Photo by U nder by Photo : o p T made such a disastrous miscalculation.

From From B ettmann/Corbis Twice in 1960, Eisenhower did something

JUNE 2016 51 HITS GREATEST CIA’S THE commander oftheChileanarmy, General Rene Schnei ammunition toplotters who wishedtoassassinatethe sending—in adiplomaticpouch—of weapons and 1973. The mostdamningaspectofthatoperation was the the overthrow ofPresident Salvador Allende ofChilein 52 put many leadershairs intheir cross hurt U.S. economicinterests, theCIA nationalist movements thatmight To counter Soviet influenceandkill led toacoupand Allende’s death. national security adviser, Henry Kissinger—ultimately Allende—orchestrated by President Richard Nixon and ber 25,1970. Three years ofintense CIA pressure on de. Officers recruited by theCIA shothimdeadonOcto Schneider refused toparticipateinactionagainst Allen any democracy: civilian control ofthemilitary. General der. Hiscrime was beliefinaprinciplethatiscentral to T decent interval ofafew months, hefired AllenDulles. thousand piecesandscatter itinto the winds.” After a and said he wished he could “splinter the CIA into a aloud after the debacle.Later hecursed “CIA bastards” April 17, 1961,but were quickly defeated by Castro’s army. most public defeat. Exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on suaded to proceed with the invasion. This led to the CIA’s nedy, retained Allen DullesasCIA director and was per launched before heleftoffice.Hissuccessor, John F. Ken AMERICAN HISTORY Many CIA operations are chillinginretrospect, butthe “How couldIhave beenso stupid?” Kennedy wondered Perhaps itsbest-known operation was it resumed its worldwide campaign. winds. After Kennedy’s assassination he CIA was never scattered into the - - - - - the campaignhadbeenan“almost uniform failure.” The fighting Soviet power, concluded at the end of his life that ca’s reputation, power andsecurity. “blowback” thatendedup decisively weakening Ameri those thatseemedsuccessful—would setoffdevastating their successors imaginedthatCIA operations—even America. Finally, Eisenhower, the Dulles brothers nor alism intheemerging nationsof Africa, Asia andLatin Third was greatly underestimating thepower ofnation pathized with American values, asimplacableenemies. was consideringneutralist leaders, many of whom sym ligence aboutthetruestateofSoviet Union. Second 1950s, theproduct ofanalmostcompletelackintel was a vast over-estimate of Soviet capabilities in the and effect, were errors ofpolicy, notsimply execution. elephant.” Its errors, many ofthemstaggering inscope its major projects. It was never anuncontrolled “rogue agency never actedonitsown. Presidents approved allof World War. The Brothers, John Foster Dulles, Allen Dullesand Their Secret and bureau chief in and ,and is theauthor of Stephen Kinzer was a longtimeNew YorkTimes correspondent lamented. “There were nograys.” strategists aclear-cut world ofblackand white,” he prism created inthemindsofdiplomaticandmilitary rather thanappreciating itscomplexity. “The Cold War the world, shapingittofittheir own preconceptions tions failed.It was that American leaders misunderstood central problem was not,he wrote, thatparticular opera The CIA officer Harry Rostizke, who spent years Key failures ofperception ledtotheseerrors. First industry. and nationalizedoil interests, and American Ran afoul ofBritish Iran Mohammad Mossadegh Prime Minister until 1978. until 1978. of theShah thatlasted Peacock Thronethe coup, 1953.Restored by CIA-backed military cIA why targeted: A C TION : Overthrown

H company United Fruit. of American interests labor reforms hurt Left-leaning landand Guatemala Arbenz Jacobo President of civil war.of in 1954.Ledto30 years overthrowing Arbenz and military coup instigated anuprising cIA why targeted: A C TION : CIA

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photo credit goes here they use where the does more Angelo Cozzi/Mondadori Portfolio/agefotostock; Bottom from Left: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/The Image Works; Corbis; Sipa via Associated Press; AFP/Getty Images; Keystone-France/Getty Images; Central Press/Getty Images; Ken Regan/Camera 5/Getty Images photo credit goes here they use where the does more Angelo Cozzi/Mondadori Portfolio/agefotostock; Bottom from Left: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/The Image Works; Corbis; Sipa via Associated Press; AFP/Getty Images; Keystone-France/Getty Images; Central Press/Getty Images; Ken Regan/Camera 5/Getty Images overthrow andarrest that culminatedinthe d the agency begana of Sukarnoin1966. emergingThird World. non alignment ofthe Indonesia promoted The first president of Indonesia President Sukarno come topower. Ruholla Khomeini the Ayatollahand Shah deposed the U.S.-backed revolution saw The 1978Iranian Iran Remix cIA why targeted: ecade-long civil warecade-long A C TION : In 1956

reunification. sought North-South colonialists in1954and the defeat ofFrench of North Vietnam led The Communist leader of Vietnam. undermine unification covert campaignto of Vietnam Democratic Republic Ho ChiMinH cIA why targeted: A C TION : CIA began movements. wide revolutionary supported world- and with theSoviet Union influence, aligned leader endedU.S. The revolutionary Cuba Fidel Castro and overthrow Castro. efforts toassassinate the CIA madeseveral cIA why targeted: A C TION : Since 1960

squad in1961. executed by firing in CIA-backed coup, the Soviet Union. i In 1960the Lumumba. Congo Prime MinisterPatrice sought aidfrom prime minister, andhe democratically-elected became thefirst cIA why targeted: ndependence leader A C TION : Deposed

industries. nationalization of and heinitiatedthe American country, elected toleadaLatin the first Marxistfreely In 1970hebecame Allende. Chile President Salvador Augusto Pinochet. dictatorship ofGeneral ushered inthe 17-year military coupin1973that cIA why targeted: A C TION : Supporteda