Word: coverted
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...addition, since taking over the CIA last March, Admiral Turner has become one of the most controversial men in Washington. His unpopularity in his own agency stems in part from the brusque way in which he eliminated 212 jobs in the Directorate of Operations, the arm that deals with covert activities and intelligence gathering (the other arm handles analysis). The sackings reflected a longstanding desire to reduce the size of the CIA and scale down its covert operations...
...exposure, and to some extent the misrepresentation, of these covert activities that got the CIA into so much trouble. While zealous agents sometimes overstepped legal limits, the agency more often took the rap for activities that were ordered or approved by higher authorities. The abortive Bay of Pigs invasion was approved by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. It is still debated whether Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson knew of or supported assassination attempts against foreign leaders, such as the bizarre plan to supply poisoned cigars to Fidel Castro. L.B.J. approved Operation Phoenix, in which agents directed the killing of Viet Cong terrorists...
...White House Press Secretary Jody Powell, for stonewalling on questions about the CIA's covert payments to Jordan's King Hussein with the statement, "By definition, any comment would be a contradiction in terms since the operation in question would no longer be secret...
...clandestine branch whose activities, such as trying to overthrow governments and spying on U.S. citizens, have damaged the reputation of the CIA. But only a small minority of agents were involved in such skulduggery, and a far larger part of the directorate's job has been the basic covert gathering of intelligence about potential enemies. Among those being fired are veteran officers with distinguished careers as undercover agents abroad...
Despite all the complaints, the cutbacks will continue, and the CIA's covert branch will grow leaner, if not tougher. Perhaps the ultimate worry is one raised by a U.S. counterintelligence expert: "If the situation were reversed, and I learned that the Soviet KGB was firing more than 800 people, I would expect our Moscow station chief to recruit somebody-or be fired himself...