The CIA turns 75: decades of espionage, myths and conspiracies

On July 26, 1947, when the American president Harry S Truman ratified the National Security Law, opened the doors to the creation of the National Intelligence Agency (CIA) and with it has made possible 75 years of espionage also surrounded by myths and conspiracies.

That regulation took two months to go into effect and laid the foundation for what it would become the largest and most powerful intelligence service in the worldwhich in turn took over from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

During this period, as excluded July 8, the current president, Joe Biden, “has evolved to anticipate and respond to the threats emerging from the Cold War to the fight against terrorism” and to facilitate the power to face competition. China and the new challenges that have reshaped the world, from new technologies to pandemics.

The agency itself prides itself on “achieving what others have not achieved and reaching where others cannot go” and its primary mission is to gather information that enables subsequent presidents. keep the country safe.

But everything around her is top secret and as such subject to criticism and suspicion. “It has the unusual problem of being a secret intelligence service in an open democratic society,” US expert Tim Weiner told EFE.

The author of the book “The legacy of the ashes. History of the CIA”defends that in order to know the enemy it is necessary to both talk to him and spy on him, and in his account he points out that in addition to the triumphs of the agency “They spared blood and wealth, their mistakes wasted both.”

“Successes and failures”

The CIA can be proud of it “sing victory” in the secret operation that led to the coup d’etat in Guatemala in 1954 against the democratically elected government of Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, opposed to Washington, or in the device that hunted down the legendary Argentine guerrilla Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Bolivia in 1967.

But did not foresee the September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon (11S) and its erroneous conclusions about mass weapons in Iraq, which were unfounded.

“we were wrong. We knew Al Qaeda was a problem, but not to what extent. Now we know “, admits to Efe, who was its director general from 2006 to 2009, Michael Hayden, who had as his work the fight against that jihadist organization and took office three years after the American invasion. Iraq, justified by that alleged weapon.

Iraq and 9/11 were not the lowest moments in the biography of an agency reaching 75 years of age in 2022. Although it is forbidden to act on the national territory, the partisan use made of it by presidents such as Richard Nixon (1969-1974) led her to focus on US citizens.

Nor was it free from controversy over the interrogation program established by the George W. Bush administration (2001-2009), in which simulated drowning techniques were used, humiliation, sleep deprivation and beatings at the base of Guantanamo.

“A lot of people say nomos should have done it, but after 9/11 everyone was saying ‘do it, do it,'” recalls Hayden, for whom the goal was more important at the time than considerations on how to achieve it.

Accurate reporting on the intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin before launching his invasion of Ukraine on Feb.24 helped propel an agency whose priority, according to both experts, it has moved away from terrorism focus on Russia and China.

The declassification of data on Russian strategy has also brought the public closer to a work which, however, remains voluntarily opaque and thus feeds the collective imagination.

“The image of an agent flying to a foreign capital, drinking a martini, sleeping with someone, overturning a government and flying away at midnight. He is a myth. The CIA is a gigantic bureaucratic apparatus made up of 20,000 to 25,000 people and only a few thousand carry out operations outside, “Weiner points out.

The advancement of new technologies has made her job easier, but it has also made her the target of her own enemies. However, as the journalist also concludes, he can look to the future with his head held high: “Are you better prepared now? I would like to say yes. “

EFE agency

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