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Iranian hostages exiting a plane with a sign that reads "Welcome back to freedom."

It’s All But Settled: The Reagan Campaign Delayed the Release of the Iranian Hostages

Suspicions have long swirled around unscrupulous campaign manager William Casey. We believe the evidence is now overwhelming.
by Stuart E. Eizenstat, Jonathan Alter, Kai Bird, Gary Sick via The New Republic on May 3, 2023
Daniel Ellsberg at a press conference in New York City, 1972.

My Fifty Years with Dan Ellsberg

The man who changed America.
by Seymour M. Hersh via seymourhersh.substack on March 8, 2023
Sailors recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Feb. 5.

Spy Balloons Evoke Bad Cold War Memories for China

Covert U.S. intrusions into Chinese airspace were common for decades.
by John Delury via Foreign Policy on February 13, 2023
Black and white photo of J. Edgar Hoover sitting at his desk.

J. Edgar Hoover, Public Enemy No. 1

The F.B.I. director promised to save American democracy from those who would subvert it—while his secret programs subverted it from within.
by Margaret Talbot via The New Yorker on November 14, 2022
Black-and-white glamour photo of Josephine Baker, smiling in her stage attire.

Josephine Baker Was the Star France Wanted—and the Spy It Needed

When the night-club sensation became a Resistance agent, the Nazis never realized what she was hiding in the spotlight.
by Lauren Michele Jackson via The New Yorker on August 8, 2022
Illustration of burning cannabis with helicopters overhead

The Cold War Killed Cannabis As We Knew It. Can It Rise Again?

Somewhere in Jamaica survive the original cannabis strains that were not burned by American agents or bred to be more profitable.
by Casey Taylor via Defector on January 11, 2022
A woman walks next to a colorful mural of Patrice Lumumba.

Probing the Depths of the CIA’s Misdeeds in Africa

The CIA committed many crimes in the early days of post-independence Africa. But is it fair to call their interference “recolonization”?
by Alex Park via Africa Is A Country on October 15, 2021
Stephen Kinzer

The Untold Story of the CIA’s MK Ultra: A Conversation with Stephen Kinzer

Stephen Kinzer discusses his new biography, “Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control.”
by Stephen Kinzer, James Penner, Ed Prideaux via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 19, 2021
US military boarding a plan

History's Warning for the U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan

History suggests that a more discreet American presence in Afghanistan will be a provocation rather than a source of security.
by Priya Satia via TIME on April 27, 2021
Coup leaders Admiral Massera and General Videla dressed in uniform

Argentina’s Military Coup of 1976: What the U.S. Knew

Declassified documents show the State Department had ample forewarning that a coup was being plotted, and that human rights violations would be committed.
via National Security Archive on March 23, 2021
illustration of boy playing Cold War video game

First-Person Shooter Ideology

The cultural contradictions of Call of Duty.
by Daniel Bessner via The Drift on February 2, 2021
the contra military group

Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair

Reagan's commitment to deregulation, aggressive military spending, and diminished oversight created a cocktail of corruption that was worse than Watergate.
by Jeremi Suri via American Heritage on February 1, 2021
nuclear explosion

The Day Nuclear War Almost Broke Out

In the nearly sixty years since the Cuban missile crisis, the story of near-catastrophe has only grown more complicated.
by Elizabeth Kolbert via The New Yorker on October 5, 2020
Salvador Allende during his inaugural parade, November 3, 1970 (photo credit: Naul Ojeda)

“Allende Wins”

Chile voted calmly to have a Marxist-Leninist state, the first nation in the world to make this choice freely and knowingly, on September 4, 1970.
by Peter Kornbluh via National Security Archive on September 3, 2020
Artistic graphic of two newcaster superimposed on the image of protesters in a Guatemalean city

The (Literally) Unbelievable Story of the Original Fake News Network

In Guatemala, the CIA hired an American actor and two radio DJs to oust a president.
by Sylvia Brindis Snow, Shane Snow via Narratively on August 27, 2020

How ‘Jakarta’ Became the Codeword for US-Backed Mass Killing

The systematic mass murder and assault of accused communists in Indonesia by US-backed military forces has left a mark on the country and the world.
by Vincent Bevins via New York Review of Books on May 18, 2020

The Murderous Legacy of Cold War Anticommunism

The US-backed Indonesian mass killings of 1965 reshaped global politics, securing a decisive victory for U.S. interests against Third World self-determination.
by Stuart Schrader via Boston Review on May 17, 2020

The Intelligence Coup of the Century

For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries.
by Greg Miller via Washington Post on February 11, 2020

Ronald Reagan’s “October Surprise” Plot Was Real After All

A batch of quietly released documents confirms what many have long suspected.
by Branko Marcetic via Jacobin on January 21, 2020

Secret US Intelligence Files Provide History’s Verdict on Argentina’s Dirty War

Recently declassified documents constitute a gruesome and sadistic catalog of state terrorism.
by Peter Kornbluh via The Nation on November 18, 2019

The United States Overthrew Iran’s Last Democratic Leader

Archival records make clear that the U.S. government was the key actor in the 1953 coup that ousted Mohammad Mosaddeq—not the Iranian clergy.
by Roham Alvandi via Foreign Policy on October 30, 2019
Joe Biden in front of a podium

Joe Biden’s Love Affair With the CIA

Biden’s assistance to William Casey, Reagan’s CIA director, and the rehabilitation of the intelligence service in general has had tragic consequences.
by Daniel Boguslaw via The American Prospect on October 10, 2019

The Secret History of Fort Detrick, the CIA’s Base for Mind Control Experiments

Today, it’s a cutting-edge lab. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the center of the U.S. government’s darkest experiments.
by Stephen Kinzer via Politico Magazine on September 15, 2019

From Mind Control to Murder? How a Deadly Fall Revealed the CIA’s Darkest Secrets

Frank Olson died in 1953, but it took decades for his family to get closer to the truth.
by Stephen Kinzer via The Guardian on September 6, 2019

Bernie, the Sandinistas, and America's Long Crisis of Impunity

Or, the pros and Contras of relying on political reporters.
by Jonathan M. Katz via Mother Jones on May 30, 2019

How The CIA Overthrew Iran's Democracy In 4 Days

The first episode of NPR's new history podcast tells the story of a 1953 coup that set the stage for US-Middle East relations ever since.
by Lawrence Wu, Michelle Lanz via NPR on February 7, 2019

The Vice President’s Men

In the 1980s, vice-president George H.W. Bush was secretly the most important decision-maker in America's intelligence world.
by Seymour M. Hersh via London Review of Books on January 4, 2019

Washington Trained Guatemala’s Mass Murderers—and the Border Patrol Played a Role

Now two Guatemalan children have died under Border Patrol custody. But the agency’s role in Latin American oppression has a long history.
by Greg Grandin, Elizabeth Oglesby via The Nation on January 3, 2019

Operation Ajax

How the CIA’s first attempt at regime change nearly failed.
by Bridey Heing via Lapham’s Quarterly on November 26, 2018
The inside of the CIA museum.

Notes from the Attic

Displaying the material history of the CIA.
by Mahan Moalemi via Cabinet on November 7, 2018
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