There’s no doubt about it:
three letter agencies like the NSA, FBI and CIA and the ones we don’t yet know
about are full of great people who want nothing but the best for their fellow
human beings. People join these agencies because they have good hearts, and
want to see the world thrive in a state of peace, equality, abundance and
freedom. That being said, the “disastrous rise of misplaced power” to which
President Eisenhower referred when referencing the military industrial complex,
has taken a hold of these agencies, which now comprise what’s known as
the Deep State. The Deep State is a covert network of
powerful and influential people who continue to manipulate, lie, and deceive
the public for their own interests.
Oh, by the way, it’s safe to
assume that the Deep State also includes, as mentioned above, the agencies we
don’t yet know about. We know this from looking at history: The National
Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952, its existence was hidden until the
mid 1960s; Another great example is the National Reconnaissance Office, which
was founded in 1960 but remained completely secret for three decades.
Several presidents and politicians have also referenced this
secret government, which doesn’t seem to be so secret anymore. That being
said, it’s still important to reference given the fact that the average Joe
still might consider the secret government to be a mere conspiracy theory. It’s
a shame that anything associated with secrecy seems to garner an instant
conspiracy response, especially when secrecy is rampant in our world, with
“National Security” constantly being used to justify it.
But times are changing,
thanks to efforts by a number of researchers, academics, journalists,
whistleblowers and more, and information is rapidly spreading. So much so that
internet censorship is on the rise, and platforms like Google and Facebook are
now actually censoring information and deciding what is real and fake for the
people, instead of letting people decide for themselves. For example, Google had to recently admit that their contractors
suppress information, like the info provided by alternative media, not
mainstream media.
“The problem of fake news
isn’t solved by hoping for a referee, but rather because we as citizens, we as
users of these services, help each other. We talk and we share and we point out
what is fake. We point out what is true. The answer to bad speech is not
censorship, the answer to bad speech is more speech. We have to exercise and
spread the idea that critical thinking matters, now more than ever, given the
fact that lies seem to be getting more popular.” –Edward Snowden (source)
But still, information is
continuously pouring out for those who are sparked by curiosity, and now even
more interesting information has emerged in the form of declassified documents,
which can now be found in the national archives, or on the agencies own
website, whichever agency it is.
In this case, it’s the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the document in question, written up in
1984, shows how the agency had definite plans to infiltrate academia and
change/influence the curriculum, specifically journalism.
As Emma Best from Muckrock
reports, recently Tweeted
by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, memos from the CIA Inspector General’s
(IG) office reveal the agencies perspective on the press and how to handle
them. It’s from 1984, approximately three decades prior to when the Agency
declared Wikileaks a hostile non-state intelligence service. It shows how the
CIA viewed the media the same way.
Are organizations like Wikileaks
really a threat to National Security? Or are they simply a threat to a small
group of powerful people who make millions, billions, or even trillions of
dollars via government secrecy? Are they a threat to the global national
security agenda that is taking place, disguised under the guise of
globalisation? Was president Vladimir Putin right when he said “imaginary” and
“mythical” threats are being used to impose the Deep State’s way on the entire
world? Perhaps truth and transparency are a threat yes, but not to national
security. If we continue to ignore these questions, the national security state
will continue to be heightened, one in which our rights are constantly
violated, with our right to privacy being one of many great examples.
Several weeks prior, CIA
Director Casey had asked the IG to weigh in on officer Eloise
Page’s paper on unauthorized disclosure. The IG passed the task onto
someone on his staff, who produced a four page SECRET memo for IG James Taylor,
who passed it on to Director Casey. The IG specifically endorsed the proposal
for a program where the Agency would intervene with journalism schools.
See for yourself:
You can view the full
document here.
In the document, the press
are also viewed as “principal villains:”
“To the Inspector General’s
office, the reason that the press were the “principal villains” was simple:
“absolute power corrupts absolutely” and “the power of the media to publish in
this country is nearly absolute.” As a result of the media’s “absolute power,’
argued the Agency that had been involved in mind
control attempts, illegal
surveillance, tampering
in foreign elections and dozens of assassinations, assassination
attempts and coups,
they had been corrupted absolutely. The member of the IG’s staff then suggested
that they compare the media to the “opposition,” a reference to hostile
intelligence services. This could be backed up by citing “precise parallels in
methods and results, if not in motivations, between the media’s attempts to
penetrate us and the opposition’s attempts to do the same.” – Emma Best
The document then goes on to
list some proposed “do’s and don’ts,” as well as expresses the belief that “a
sanitized list of foolish media disclosures that have cost the country or
individuals substantially.” But again, as discussed above, have they really
cost the citizenry, or have they simply cost some powerful interests?
The document also urges the
Director to “remember” that “the organization has official contacts with
influential people outside the Community – people in leadership posts in
this society; academia and the media concluded; and remember that we
undoubtedly have in the organization many who know such people unofficially and
who could help provide access if needed.”
Quite revealing isn’t it?
Another document, relating to the same one discussed above
shows an initiative to “call in media leaders,” whatever that means, and a
system for screen disclosures by the media, and also mentions “centralized
control of all press contacts,” as well as “control of press access.”
It’s quite ironic that this
document is from 1984. George Orwell’s 1984, a
classic book depicting a populace ruled by a political regime that persecutes
individualism and independent critical thinking as “thought crimes” that must be
enforced by the “thought police” was also released that year. This party
seeks power above all, and, through the propagandist Ministry of Truth,
presents the people with their version of truth. Sound familiar? This is
basically one of many tools used by the Deep State today. Sometimes, it seems
that our thoughts, feelings and emotions are given to us, and we are so
occupied with our lives that when certain individuals of groups become
concerned with what is happening in the world, they come across enormous
amounts of secrecy.
How many pages of documents
does the US government classify every year? Some historians peg it at half a
billion pages per year. For any journalist or researcher interested in the
history of the country, how are they expected to really know anything when so
much of it remains hidden from public view?
It’s unfortunate that the
CIA’s control over media and academia is used today not for defense and
freedom, but to deceive and push forth agendas in that which the public is
completely unaware of. A great quote from Mark Twain comes to mind here:
“The statesman will invent
cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man
will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study
them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them: and thus he will by and by
convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he
enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”
Bottom
of Form
After 1984, The CIA’s
Relationship With Media & Academia
It’s interesting to glance
at the information/documents above, and then look at another from 1991.
A declassified document from
the CIA archives in the form of a letter from a CIA task force addressed to the
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency details the close relationship
that exists between the CIA and mainstream media and academia.
The document states that
the CIA task force “now has relationships with reporters from every major wire
service, newspaper, news weekly, and television network in the nation,” and
that “this has helped us turn some ‘intelligence failure’ stories into
‘intelligence success stories,’ and has contributed to the accuracy of
countless others.” Furthermore, it explains how the agency has “persuaded
reporters to postpone, change, hold, or even scrap stories that could have
adversely affected national security interests or jeopardized sources
and methods.”
The document not only
outlines the CIA’s role in media, but also the entire entertainment industry in
general, lending further weight to revelations offered by celebrities like Jim
Carrey. He appeared as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, saying that,
“For years now, talk show hosts, people on television, people in sitcoms have
been hired by the government to throw you off the tracks, to distract you, to
make you laugh and stuff like that, make you happy and docile so you don’t know
what’s really going on.” Perhaps he wasn’t joking?
Perception control? Movies
used as propaganda? Something to think about.
It’s good to see an effort
from those within mainstream media create awareness about this as well.
Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, a
prominent German journalist and editor for more than two decades, is one
example. He blew the whistle on public television, stating that he was forced
to publish the works of intelligence agencies under his own name and that
noncompliance with these orders would result in him losing his job. (source)
Sharyl Attkisson and Amber
Lyon, both well-known mainstream media reporters and journalists, have
also exposed funded movements by political, corporate, and other special
interests, and have revealed that they are routinely paid by the US government
as well as foreign governments to selectively report and distort information on
certain events. (source)(source)
James F. Tracy is a PhD from
the University of Iowa. A former professor of communications at Boca Raton,
Florida Atlantic University, he is also one of many who reports on this type of
thing. He emphasizes:
“Since the end of World War
Two the Central Intelligence Agency has been a major force in US and foreign
news media, exerting considerable influence over what the public sees, hears
and reads on a regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert
they have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history
of their intimate collaboration indicates a far different story–indeed, one
that media historians are reluctant to examine.”
He published a great article
going into more detail about the close relationship between the agency and the
media:
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