CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

The response to the newspaper was required by law to be made promptly to the Journal’s Freedom of Information Act Letter Request. The failure to find the documents was not that unusual. However the legal request was properly made by the newspaper almost 15 years earlier. The original letter was send in October 1989. It took the CIA 15 years to say that they had not found any relevant documents. Incredibly enough this was not the oldest outstanding pending Freedom of Information Request. One had been submitted to the FBI in 1987 that had not then been responded to yet.

Two years later the CIA adopted an official formal policy against inhumane treatment during interrogation and the manual was changed.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the manual the reader is told that force or involuntary interrogation is illegal. Then later, the manual tells the interrogator that headquarters approval is required for unwilling subjects. See {597792}. Throughout the beginning of the War on Terrorism the principle was quietly used in incarcerating Taliban and other terrorists.

This was a training manual for the conduct of Guerrilla wars in general and the Contra insurrection in Nicaragua.

This was a training manual for the conduct of Guerrilla wars in general and the Contra insurrection in Nicaragua.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the manual the reader is told that force is illegal. Then later, the manual tells the interrogator that headquarters approval is required for torture of use of chemicals. And still later there are instructions such as this quotation {597792}.

Earlier in the manual, the illegality of such techniques is stated. Later there are suggestions for the use of duress. See {597790}

The military attack on the Taliban was a great success and the regime was ousted very rapidly. Once the regime was displaced, however, the military was faced with an extremely decentralized country with sporadic resistance from Taliban sympathizers and with the tough task of rebuilding the dilapidated country.

Only three days later the Russians detonated their first atomic device.

Central Intelligence Agency. The MKULTRA scandal involved testing LSD on unwitting American subjects. Under the influence of the powerful drug people did all kinds of unwholesome and illegal things with the CIA agents observing and in some cases participating. Several American citizens suffered permanent damage.

The PBSUCCESS unit was attempting to thwart the Communist movements in Guatemala.

John E. Puerifoy, the American ambassador to Guatemala

This covert project — PBSUCCESS — to destabilize Guatemala was exposed by the Guatemalan government. To minimize the embarrassment in the U. S., the PBSUCCESS CIA staff asked headquarters to fabricate sensational stories to keep newspapers and the fledgling TV news busy and distracted from covering the Guatemala story that the CIA was trying to destabilize the government in order to bring about regime change. The CIA was prohibited by law from doing this but the agency at that time ignored many laws. It is not known if the phony stories were actually planted at that time.

36 days later, September 11, he did strike, and at the World Trade Center. The memo was kept secret by the Bush administration until public pressure as a result of the 9-11 Commission hearings forced the declassification and release. At that point it became clear that there was no reason that the memo could not have been released much earlier except that it was embarrassing.

36 days later, September 11, he did strike. See {617467} for some of the specific contents. The memo was kept secret by the Bush administration until public pressure as a result of the 9-11 Commission hearings forced the declassification and release. At that point it became clear that there was no reason that the memo could not have been released much earlier except that it was embarrassing. See {637530} and {637533} for two other Bin Laden Warnings that Bush and his team ignored.

36 days later, September 11, he did strike, and at the World Trade Center. The memo was kept secret by the Bush administration until public pressure as a result of the 9-11 Commission hearings forced the declassification and release. At that point it became clear that there was no reason that the memo could not have been released much earlier except that it was embarrassing.

The assessment was secret but was leaked by columnist Jack Anderson. President Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger placed great faith and trust in the Shah who did indeed pursue his own aims. He doubled the price of oil overnight, and was the first Iranian leader to seek nuclear weapons—see {586394}. The CIA got that one right. {620094} gives a concurring opinion by a member of the Cabinet.

The George W. Bush administration had issued a memorandum to key Federal Agencies stating that certain types of torture were legal—a finding that was quickly repudiated after Bush and VP Cheney—who was a leading force for allowing torture of terrorism suspects—were out of office. But Bush had told the American People and the World that the United States will not torture any prisoners. The dilemma was “solved” when someone came up with this euphemism.

The reason for these creative phrases was that President George W, Bush had publicly stated that it was United States policy to follow American and International Law and the U. S. does “not torture”. The CIA then decided that it should destroy the videos of the episodes where these euphemisms were used when they were accused of torture and there were calls for prosecution for violation of U. S. law.

The U. S. was evacuating all its forces and agents as the Viet Cong overran Saigon. This ended the Vietnam War. The CIA, had been telling the President and the National Security Staff that the Army reports were exaggerated and we were not faring well in the Vietnam War. Events proved them right. Their earlier track record, especially with President Nixon was very poor in intelligence analysis and prediction. See {634511}, {634509}, and {634503} for Nixon’s view of the CIA.

Just as the brief was received, Kissinger received a Cable from the American Embassy in Cyprus stating that the Greek forces had moved in Cyprus and decimated the Cypriot forces and burned the Presidential Palace. Nixon was furious at the CIA which based their entire brief on one agent talking to the Greek dictator in Greece and had no agents who could report on what everyone in Cyprus could see. {634509}, {634503} and {634502} for examples of Nixon flaming the CIA. This was one of the reasons he came down on them.

The “constraints” include an unwillingness to use atomic, chemical and biological warfare; no torture; execution or assassination of all insurgents possible; killing and intimidation of civilians; due process.