Abstract
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an agency that deals with foreign related matters. It is mandated to conduct missions and other covert duties under the directions of the president. The Agency is a foreign civilian agency tasked with the gathering and analyzing national security intelligence from all over the world. CIA has a very limited domestic role so unless it is related to the overall national security. With new threats to the national security like terrorism and cyber-attacks, the agency has expanded its functions so as to combat these new threats (Lowenthal, M., 2015, p.45). The agency is not only limited to providing intelligence to the USA alone, but it also collaborates with other countries when the security of the entire world is under threatened. By the end of the war, American decided that the only defense against Russian threat was containment strategy. This strategy then saw the formation of the CIA whose role was to counter this expansion move by the Russians.
Introduction
The CIA, being the foreign intelligence gathering agency, plays a paramount role in the national security. The agency was established in 1947, to gather military information about other countries considered to be powerful. The role of this agency has grown over time, and it has become a powerful force both locally and internationally in intelligence gathering and analyzing. They have provided intelligence to many countries, which has been of very great help to their security (Kornbluh, 2004, p.67). In spite of this, the agency has been loathed by many countries in equal measures. It is the powerful agency in the world and at times, it has been accused of overstepping its mandate. This agency has gotten accused of espionage in most countries as well as abetting political assassinations mostly in the developing countries. Moreover, they have been accused of destabilizing various governments across the world by financing and supporting warlords. Thesis statement: The CIA is a powerful intelligence agency in the world, and hence, they have influenced opinion both nationally and internationally. The agency has been responsible for influencing opinion concerning politics, economic and even military operations all over the world. This paper will focus on the role the agency played in sparking the cultural cold war up to the year 1960.
Discussions
CIA is an agency that has gotten accused of playing the dirty side of espionage across the world. Despite the existent of similar foreign intelligence gathering agencies in the world, like the M16, SIS, MOSSAD and others, the CIA has been notoriously associated with various international crimes as well as illegal operations even domestically. The agency has crashed with various national security forces including the FBI and the military intelligence wing. After the world war two, there was a serious political and military tension between the warring powers in the world (Lowenthal, 2015, p.92). This period got marked by continued tension over the emergence of a third world war, and the superpowers were preparing to outdo each other. It made them go into a frenzy information gathering over the military might and operations of the other. On the American side, the CIA was formed purposely for this task while the Soviet Union had KGB and GRU (Aldrich, 2002).
During this period, there was no direct fighting between the superpowers, but they supported other proxy wars each on a different side. It was termed as the cold war since there was no direct combat between them, but the tension of an emergence of a third world war was so immense. The Second World War saw the Soviet Union and America become the world superpowers. It was not good for either of them, as each felt that it needed to be the most powerful country in the world. To manifest their power, they engaged in indirect combat by supporting civil wars and other issues that got considered will out do the other. This period became known as the cold war era, as there was huge tension in the world (Grey, 2005, p.82).
It is not exactly clear as to the period when the cold war began and when it ended, but historians do agree that it was in between the years 1947-1991 (Cahn, 1998, p.90). During the cold war, the two superpowers increased their military might in preparation to protect themselves in a possible attack on the other side. In addition to this, the warring superpowers went out to influence the other countries especially the third world countries to rally behind them. It saw the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement in Egypt, India, and Indonesia which refused to associate with either power. Besides developing powerful military arsenals like the nuclear bombs, the struggle for dominance between the two forces was characterized by massive propaganda, espionage, scientific and technological innovations as well as economic rivalry (Trahair, 2008, p.67).
During the Second World War, the US and the Soviet Union fought alongside each other as the allies against the axis. Despite this, the relationship between the two countries was not good. Before this, Americans were very wary of the Soviet's communism and also were opposed to the Russian leader Stalin, who they felt was leading a blood thirst reign over his country. On their side, Soviets resented Americans so much for their delay in entering the Second World War, which resulted in the death of many Russians (Johnson, 2012, p.46). With the culmination of the war, the rivalry ripened into a deep sense of distrust and enmity. After the war, the Soviets infiltrated Eastern Europe, and this caused panic on the American side as they felt that the Soviets wanted to control the world. The Russians came to hate the American bellicose rhetoric, continued arms buildup and their intervention methods in international issues (Kornbluh, 2004, p.82). By the end of the war, most American agreed that the only defense against Russian threat was containment strategy. This strategy then saw the formation of the CIA whose role was to counter this expansion move by the Russians. Besides, the CIA propagated rumors about the offensive expansion policy of the Soviets in the Eastern Europe.
The confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union was not only political and economic battle, but it was also a cultural clash. The Soviets depicted Americans as a cultural dark hole and cited their communist culture as evidence that they were the real inheritors of the European Enlightenment. Americans on their side accused them of disregarding the importance of the value of culture and the totalitarian control of political systems (Johnson, 2012, p.23). The US felt that it had the responsibility of preserving the cultural traditions of the Western civilization as many Europeans artists sought refuge in the US during and after the world war two. In the year 1950, the CIA surreptitiously formed the Congress for Cultural and Freedom (CCF) to counter the Russian Cominform peace agenda (Bigsby, 2006, p.54). This Congress opened its offices in over thirty-five countries and employed dozens of employees. It published a lot of prestige magazines, held art exhibitions, organized international conferences, rewarded artists and also provided news and broadcasting services. The intention of this endeavor was to showcase US culture and to counter communism which was headed by the Russians. Through this Congress, the CIA depicted Communism as a totalitarian policy which was out to erode western civilization culture (Guftason, 2012, p.35).
The CIA funded the CCF and these cultural activities saw a huge laundering of the CIA funds through legitimate foundations (Ford and Rockefeller and Fairfield Foundation) and got directed towards supporting the anti-communist cause. The tour by the Yale Glee Club like the museum of modern art’s to showcase expressionist paintings articulated sophisticated aesthetic strategies by the CIA to counter Russian expansion (Long, 2014, p.24). The CIA cultural war was aimed at speaking against the communist ideology of curtailed ideology freedom as well as free enterprise. The Encounter Magazine was considered to be the CIA's jewel in waging cultural war. The magazine got based in London, and its main aim was to promote western culture in Europe, but it towed on pro-America line (De Quesada, 2011, p.43). The magazine’s headquarters got married with a lot of office politics with the top officials feuding over roles and content. Despite this, the crisis surrounding the magazine were more attributed to the patron, the CIA. In spite of all this, the problem lay with the Europeans who were so devastated by the Second World War and hence funding of these European magazines and organizing cultural gatherings raised eyebrows. They suspected that this was the CIA’s strategy from the beginning (Cahn, 1998, p.21).
The cultural cold war aimed at containing the continued communist culture by the Soviets across the world and especially Eastern Europe. They knew that should the military strength of Russia continue to grow, then they could use it to achieve their intent (Inderfurth, 2004, p.123). The containment strategy provided the steps for arms buildup in the United States of America (Cahn, 1998, p.41). The Truman’s lead council recommended military force to contain the Russian expansion plan, and hence, the report called for an increase in military spending. American officials suggested the development of sophisticated atomic weapons like the one that ended the Second World War (Gill, 2016, p.11). They were very much aware of the Russian military strength and hence did not take it lightly. The Russians were aware of the US plan to build a super bomb and hence Stalin also followed suit. As a result of this, the cold war went to high levels of acute tension. The first atomic bomb test by the Americans showed how gruesome the nuclear age will be. Subsequent tests by both America and Russia spewed very dangerous poisonous radioactive wastes in the atmosphere (Trahair, 2008 p.14).
Since its inception in the 1940s throughout the cold war, the Russian atomic project got the focus of serious intelligence by America and its allies. The area of interest was the availability of uranium and the production of nuclear plutonium warheads as well as the nuclear production and management. The US was in desperate need of information regarding the Soviets nuclear striking capabilities. The information required by the CIA so as to help them analyze the designs of Soviet nuclear warheads the size of their nuclear bombs as well as the chemical composition of these bombs (Kinzer, 2008 p.51). The intelligence on Moscow’s knowledge to develop nuclear weapons was needed so as to assess their capabilities of designing warheads and antimissiles that would survive US ballistic missiles. The US objective of gathering this information saw it engage the globe (Hennessy, 2008 p.13). The CIA got involved in analyzing the Russians bomb testing area and also the technical analysis of the chemicals used by them in these nuclear. These nuclear weapons got America panicking, and they felt that should Russia continue developing sophisticated weapons, this would aid them in expanding their communist culture. The CIA used all ways possible including spreading the rumors of Russia wanting to make the Eastern Europe a communist culture (Grey, 2005 p.23).
Entertainment is a very critical area of cultural influence. Given this, the CIA was very much aware that they needed to use entertainment as an area to wage cultural war to the Russians (Halper, 2005 p.21). At the beginning of 1947, influenced by the CIA, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) brought the cultural cold war at home. The committee began hearings to show that communist subversion was very rife (Johnson, 2007 p.32). HUAC forced a lot of people in Hollywood who worked in the movie industry to renounce left wing political culture and to swear against each other, and this saw over 500 individuals who refused to do this lose their jobs. HUAC through intelligence gathered by the CIA accused some of the state department workers of engaging in subversive activities. It saw many workers fired, investigated and prosecuted (De Quesada, 2011 p.89). The CIA funded entertainment as well as using Hollywood to advance their course. Nevertheless, this has been criticized by many entertainment icons saying that the CIA assistance got only limited to complementary productions and not the original entertainment stuff (Elliston, 1999 p.82). The CIA’s funded production of movies that portrayed Russia as the enemy of the entire world. Also the cultural and intellectual gatherings organized across Eastern Europe aimed at promoting pro-American culture and also show the importance of democratic freedom (Helms, 2004 p.38). As the anticommunist hysteria reached fever pitch, people were forced to swear against each other and take loyalty oaths. The agency has come under sharp criticism over its manipulated public image through entertainment. The agency spends millions of money on this, and some of it got greatly squandered (Frankly, 2005 p.11).
CIA has made the use of mass media an asset both domestic as well as foreign in its covert operations. It became known after it got realized that the agency was funding the CCF. As the cold war progressed, it was discovered that a dozen of the American journalist working abroad had gotten enlisted with the CIA. They were working on both American and foreign media houses. They used the mass media in this countries to condemn communism as well as promoting pro- American cultures (Wilford, 2008 p.34). Also, they used mass media to enhance their intelligence and information gathering. Back in the country, also, the CIA used mass media to spread anti-communism rumors. The agency has gotten seriously blamed for manipulating the media in advancing their agenda (Aldrich, 2002 p.32). The CIA used freelancers to access crucial information which was passed on to them. The CIA acknowledged directing the mass media to do publications from foreign countries as well as wiring of information and intelligence. The agency also used dubious means like threats, arrests and economic sanctions to force the mass media to publish or report their content (Andrew, 2007 p.21).
America became the cradle for music growth as a result of attempting to persuade different audiences worldwide. Given this, the CIA influenced the CCF to get reluctant in patronizing the American music experiments and artists. In turn, the CCF concentrated on presenting the older European music that had been banned by the communist. In the year 1952, CCF sponsored Festival of Twentieth Century Masterpieces of Modern Arts in France (Clarke, 2006 p.17). The festival hosted nine orchestras separately, and the main performers were the artist who had been condemned by the communist as being sterile (Wilford, 2008 p.54). The CIA were cited saying that the performance got a lot of acclamation in Paris and hence influenced so many people. The agency used musical genres to convince musical enthusiasts that the US got committed to upholding musical art and culture (Dobbs, 2008 p.8). CCF organized and transported America’s talents to the Europe to perform anti-communist music. To maintain their relationship and cooperation, the CCF funded artist who were in need of monetary assistance. Also, the CCF concentrated on promoting of the European music that was deemed formalist by the communist (Trahair, 2008 p.18).
Conclusion
The CIA has been instrumental in information and intelligence gathering that has managed to maintain the security of this country. Nevertheless, the agency has on various occasion overstepped their mandate causing a lot of tension. The agency has gotten accused of abetting crime in most of the countries as well as financing questionable activities. Over the past years especially after the cold world war the activities of this agency has sparked a lot of controversies. The CIA successfully managed to control and also spy on various countries which were perceived as communists. The agency became unpopular as the means they used to advance their course was deemed to be very unprofessional.
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