James J. Angleton

James J. Angleton chief of the CIA’s counterintelligence staff from 1954 to 1974.

Writing for the New York Times in 2007, Tim Weiner notes:

"A rare gem among the family jewels: a pair of detailed reports signed by James J. Angleton, the legendary chief of the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence staff from 1954 to 1974. They describe an aspect of a longstanding worldwide American program to create and exploit foreign police forces, internal security services, and counterterrorism squads overseas.

"Mr. Angleton had been the C.I.A.’s man in charge of the overseas training program since it was had gotten under way in the mid-1950s. The C.I.A. and other American agencies trained and equipped foreigners to serve their nations — and, in secret, the United States. Once the Americans set up a foreign service, the foreigners could both help carry out American foreign policy by suppressing Communists and leftists, and gather intelligence on behalf of the C.I.A.

"The program, according to recently declassified American government documents, had trained hundreds of thousands of foreign military and police officers in 25 nations by the early 1960s. It helped create the secret police of Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, South Vietnam, and Thailand."

Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch articles

• American Security Council Foundation: National Security Studies Program