A Singular Opportunity

Gaining Access to CIA™s Records

Evan Thomas

Editor™s Note: Mr. Evan Thomas was I sometimes had the feeling reading

allowed to see CIA classified record~ under the Church Committee reports that the historical access policy. The basic author the public knows more about the ityfor this policy is Executive Order 12356 inner workings of the CIA™s Clandes

April 1982], as implemented in HR 10- tine Service than it does about the 24(c)4. Under these provisions, CIA may Department of Health and Human grant individual researchers andformer Services. Presidential appointees access to classified files, once the reczpient ofthis access signs a Yet, for a variety of reasons, the CIA I sometimes had the feeling secrecy agreement and agrees to allow the hangs on to the illusion of secrecy reading the Church Agency to review his manuscript to ensure about these early operations. Sources that it contains no class~f1ed information. and methods must be protected, Committee reports that the Former DCI granted Mr. even from many decades ago, and public knows more about Thomas historical access in 1992, and there is a certain tradition to con the inner workings of the directed that the CIA History Stafflocate sider. To some old hands like andprovide records that would satisfi Mr. Richard Helms, secrets are forever. CIA™s Clandestine Service Thomas™s research request. Mr. Thomas™s Thus, numerous books have reported than it does about the manuscrzpt was subsequently reviewed in that the Guatemala operation was accordance with his and codenamed PBSUCCESS. To the of Heahh and secrecy agreement Department approved on2March 1995 by the Informa CIA, however, the code name Human Services. tion Review Officer ofthe Directorate of remains classified. This is under

Operations, with the concurrence of the standable to officials of the ‚9 Office of General Counsel. The views Directorate of Operations (DO), per expressed by Mr. Thomas in his manuscript haps, but to historical researchers it and in this article are his own, and do not seems slightly surreal. There is not a necessarily represent the opinions of CIA or lot historians can do about it, any ofits components. because the operations of the CIA are largely exempt from the Freedom of Information Act It is no secret that, over time, many (FOIA).

CIA secrets leak. The most sensa

tional stories have a way of surfacing, This may be about to change. There especially in the covert action arena is a move afoot in Congress and the where there are often many witting Clinton administration to declassi& participants and the action has tangi CIA records from the early daysŠ ble consequences. In the early days, more than 30 years ago. But it will the larger, more spectacular covert be a slow and cumbersome process, actions in Indonesia and at the Bay if my own experience is an indication. of Pigs all were the subjects of rumors and newspaper accounts I have had the singular opportunity within a few months (or hours) of of being allowed behind the veil their occurrence. Post-Watergate and permitted to see all of the Congressional investigators uncov Clandestine Service™s classified histo ered much of what remained secret: ries and some of the Agency™s

Evan Thomas is an Assistant Manag the assassination plots, drug experi classified records. I believe I am the ing Editor of Newsweek magazine. ments, and mail-opening campaigns. first outside historian or journalist to

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be granted such an opportunity. But they were ideally suited to take a lead improving those stories. If there was the process I went through tells a lit ership role. a paper trail to the stories I was hear tle about the difficulty the CIA will ing from the old hands, I wanted to have for wider opening up viewing. I settled on four subjects: Wisner, see it. The result was satisfactory to me, Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, and and Agency officials, though encum Desmond FitzGerald. Wisner, Bis In the winter of 1992, I called out to bered by bureaucratic imperatives, sell, and FitzGerald were Deputy the CIA™s Office of Public Affairs, showed faith. the good Nonetheless, Directors for Plans, and Barnes was not quite sure what to expect. I process was complex and, at times, an Associate Deputy Director for was pleasantly surprised when Joe sligh~dy comic. Plans and a major participant in DeTrani, then the Agency™s chief some of the bigger actions, including spokesman, invited me to visit Lan My access was granted for a book I Guatemala and the Bay of Pigs. They gley to discuss possible access. was working on, entitled The Very all were distinguished by a certain Noting that the Cold War was over, Best Men, published last year by social backgroundŠmembers of the he said that the Agency was looking Simon & Schuster. Several years ago, same set in GeorgetownŠand they for ways to open up to historians and I had the idea of writing a joint biog all believed in acting boldly and tak journalists. When I arrived at CIA raphy of four men who were ing risks. Within the Agency, they headquarters, I was received by promincnt figures running covert were known for their dash and DeTrani, Ken McDonald, the head action in the first two decades of the charm, and, by some, for their inno of the CIA™s History Staff, and Cold War. In a way, I wanted to cence of tradecraft and occasional another official who handled FOIA write a sequel to The Wise Men, recklessness. requests. The Agency officials were which I co-authored with Walter friendly and seemed eager to help, in Isaacson, published 1986. The All four show up in various books on but I got a taste of what was in store Wise Men was the story of six states the CIA. Bissell was briefly but viv when I reached down to pick up the men who shaped the doctrine of idly portrayed in Tom Powers™s The CIA résumés of my four subjects, containment in the years right after Man Who Kept the Secrets. Wisner one-page summaries that were laid World War II. Two fwise men,f was somewhat cruelly captured in out on the table. The résumés George Kennan and Chip Bohlen, The Old Boys by Burton Hersh. seemed innocuousŠthey consisted were close friends with Frank Wis Barnes and FitzGerald are more of titles and dates of employment. ncr, the man most responsible for obscure figures. I hoped that I would But one of the officials present creating a covert action capability for be able to find out more about these quickly stayed my hand. Classified, the in the postwar era. men from their families and friends. he explained.

Although of a much later generation, Wisner™s story, of an impassioned, I was reasonably well connected to Nonetheless, the Agency officials driven man who helped create a their world through my own acquain hoped that we could work out some counterforce to Soviet subversion tanceships and through my kind of an arrangement. Although and later became a tragic suicide, employer, Katharine Graham of The records of Agency operations are intrigued me. As I looked into it, I Washington Post. But I was eager to largely exempt from FOIA, there is found that there was a group of see as well if I could persuade the an obscure executive order that men within the CIA who, like Wis CIA to open up its records. Oral his allows historians to have access if ncr, were similar to the group we tory is useful to get a feel for the they sign an Agency secrecy oath. wrote about in The Wise Men. This motivations behind official acts and The provision had been used once group shared the same social back the character and temperament of before, they explained, for Jerry ground, the same ideals, and the the officials themselves. But it is not Schecter, who wrote a book about same confidence in America™s role in always accurate. People tend to the Penkovsky case called The Spy the world. They had a sureness of remember stories they have told Who Saved the World. Schecter purpose, a deep confidence that about events, not the events them had been allowed to see Penkovsky™s America™s time had come and that selves, and memories have a way of file, although he had not been

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The CIA was talking about giving me the entire run of Agency records from the allowed to cite Agency records in his I read public accounts, looked at late 1940s to the footnotes. some of the scant archival material, mid-1960s. I wanted to and interviewed about 50 former offi I knew that I could not sign the cials who had worked with find some way to take my would Agency™s secrecy agreement. It subjects. I also spent several days aliow the advantage of the offer government to censor my interviewing the one survivor in my work before DeTrani publication. without sacrificing my own group, Richard Bissell. Almost every assured me that the CIA would be one I contacted, Bissell, freedom to including reasonable. But how could I be sure? publish. spoke freely and on the record. I of the lawsuit thought Agency™s There are no unattributed quotes in Frank a former 9~ case against Snepp, the book, and in the end I was able officer who had secrets in published to cite all my sources by name, with his book, Decent Interval. The a single exception of an official who had a for rates.) Together, we worked out a Agency reputation fighting did not want to reveal his knowledge to keep its secrets. The proposal designed to protect secrecy agree my of an assassination plot. ment that was shown to meŠa interests and the Agency™s. It was standard form signed by Agency basically a two-step process. I would Meanwhile, my lawyer negotiated employeesŠis incredibly broad. It write the manuscript based on my with CIA. The talks went slowlyŠ would, if literally applied, affect not interviews with retired Agency offi on and off for nearly two years. I was only my book but also anything I cials, the large literature on given a security clearance and went ever wrote about the intelligence intelligence, and whatever public doc to several long meetings with large business. I asked a few other journal uments I could find. The CIA would numbers of anxious-looking officials. ists, including Bob Woodward, what read it and tell me if there was any They were concerned about the they thought about signing such an information in the manuscript that amount of work that might be oath. They replied that I would be they would object to if published. I involved in providing access, and, out of my mind. would then decide whether or not to most important, what kind of take the information out of the prece dent might be set. For a while, it Still, I was tempted to try to find manuscript. If the deletions looked demanded like the Agency would aban some compromise. Here was a were not too significant don the But at I project. a meeting set chance to get inside, to see what no or onerous, would then be prepared take the up to accomplish just that, an official one in my situation had ever seen to next stepŠto sign a from the DO, having read first before. Schecter had been given secrecy oath agreeing to submit to my draft, declared that there was noth access to a very important case, but it pre-publication review. The purpose ing in it that would harm the was just one case. The CIA was talk of this two-step process was to make that I national security. His candor helped ing about giving me the entire run of sure could protect my own Agency records from the late 1940s reporting from Agency censorship. salvage the negotiations. to the mid-1960s. I wanted to find I wanted to knowŠin advanceŠ It clear some way to take advantage of the what was likely to give the Agency was by this stage that the trouble. I wanted lacked the offer without sacrificing my own free also ro modify the Agency resources or the dom to publish. CIA™s standard and all-encompassing willingness to give me complete secrecy oath to apply narrowly to access to the records. By this junc information I from CIA To represent me, I hired a lawyer, got ture, I was also running out of archivesŠnot from other Sven Holmes, a partner at Williams any source, timeŠmy publisher was clamoring former officials. & Con nolly, who had plenty of expe including Agency for my manuscript. I narrowed my rience in this area because he had document request to focus on the been chief counsel of the Senate While I was pondering what to do Clandestine Service histories and sev Intelligence Committee. (Equally about the CIA™s secrecy oath, I was eral other documents that I knew to important, he offered to discount his reporting and researching my book. be in the archives.

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The Agency made no attempt to stop me from publishing information On 1 December 1994, after exten hands, while correcting some impor that was critical or sive meetings between my lawyer and tant details. For instance, a lore has Agency officials, I received back my embarrassingŠwith one grown over time, repeated in various draft the first with Agency™s request small exception. CIA books as recently as Peter for 33 changes and deletions. Most Grose™s 1994 biography of Allen simply requested that I specifically ~9 Dulles, that the Agency contem cite a non-CIA source, which was plated arming the freedom fighters easy to do. In a few cases, I was asked during the Hungarian Revolution to not use a cryptonym or to delete and even turning loose a paramili the name of a case officer or the Inspector General™s report on the tary army. , it is true, country where he had served. In the Bay of Pigs, a document that histori wanted to do something to exploit few cases where I could not find a ans have been after for some time. I the uprising, but, as a practical mat public source, I agreed. I was able to asked for and was allowed to see per ter, he was powerless to do much. do this without detracting from the sonnel records pertaining to my There were no readily available book. Indeed, it was hard to see what subjects, although the Agency balked arms, the émigrés trained to fight in all the fuss had been about, because at medical records for privacy rea the paramilitary force were not there was little in my original draft sons. I was able to look at some ready, and the CIA station in that required changing. The Agency planning documents and cables on Vienna, the closest launching base, made no attempt to stop me from the Guatemala operation, but the did not have any Hungarian publishing information that was criti DO was unable to find some cables speakers. cal or embarrassingŠwith one small from Frank Wisner during the 1956 and his exception. Bissell one of Hungary crisis, though a log summa Off and on through December, I aides, Bob King, had told me about a rizing the cables was located. came to the History Staff office to carried kill Presi plot, never off, to read and take notes on a computer dent Sukarno of Indonesia or to I was lucky to have as my guide in supplied by the Agency. In January, I infect him somehow with venereal this process Michael Warner of the submitted about 80 items for declas disease. The allowed Agency me to CIA™s History Staff. He was smart, sification. The Agency agreed to this when use somewhat tawdry tale responsive, thorough, and good- almost all, objecting to certain I able to to testi was point some humored about my undertaking. He cryptonyms and some operational from Bissell before the Church mony warned me at the outset that most of details, like the number of airdrops Committee that in alluded, general the histories, written largely by intel of weapons into a country with the terms, to plot. ligence officers, were turgid and which the United States now has del sometimes incomplete. This was icate diplomatic relations. I took the the After we had agreed on a few true. On the other hand, they gave items cleared by Agency and changes and citations to sourcing, I me a feel for the way the Agency saw incorporated them into my manu was allowed into the office of the itself. I feel reasonably confident in script. The Agency signed off on the History Staff to read the Clandestine saying, after having read the histo final draft, with oniy a few last- Service histories and various other ries and talked to members of the minute quibbles. documents. I read all or parts of History Staff, that there are no great about 30 of the histories, mostly deal secrets remaining from the early For me, the experience was long and ing with covert operations in various daysŠneither victories nor defeats. expensive, sometimes perplexing and regions in the time frame (1948-67) (As a result, I now take with a grain a little exasperating, but in the end of my book. I was especially inter of salt the oft-used line by Agency worthwhile. It further convinced me ested in the histories of the major veterans, fYou only hear about our that the CIA would probably be wise operations, particularly Guatemala defeats. If only you knew about our to open up its files from this early and the Bay of Pigs, in which several victories!f) The histories confirmed period for one simple reason: most of my subjects had played major much of what I had read in public people believe that the CIA is still hid roles. I was allowed to read the sources or heard from old Agency ing terrible secretsŠthat do not exist!

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I really believe that it would be in the Agency™s interest Millions have seen the movie JFK to let historians see and give credence to the conspiracy what theories of its writer, Oliver Stone. I for themselves gather that Stone™s latest movie in remains classified. will progress about fictional spin out a new and equally ‚9 set of tales about the Agency. People will believe them, rio matter how far fetched. Polls show that nearly 80 per Somehow, however, I do not believe

died as cent of Americans believe JFK that is going to happen any time and about a result of a conspiracy, soon. Bureaucracy, lack of man half believe CIA was somehow power, worries about diplomatic involved. Whatever remains in the relations with other nations and CIA files cannot be as awful as nearly their intelligence services, and some the American public imagines. To be genuine residual concerns about pro there sure, I hardly saw everything stand in tecting sources and methods but I not even a whiff was to see, got the the way. 1 am grateful to Agency of dirty tricks that had somehow for my limited access, but I am not remained hidden from Church Com sure the Agency officials are eager to mittee investigators or the army of the experience. As he was historians and authors who write repeat reviewing manuscript for the about the CIA. I really believe that it my umpteenth time, the DO Informa would be in the Agency™s interest to tion Review Officer handling my let historians see for themselves what Bill McNair, looked remains classified. I do not see why manuscript, with smile. He the Agency does not declassify almost up at me a weary than said, fWe are never, ever, to any secret that is more 30 years going old. do this again.f

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