On Mon, Sep 9, 2024 at 2:57 PM National Security Archive <[email protected]> wrote:
> Kissinger Misled President, Cabinet and Reporters On CIA’ Role In Chile, > Documents Show; Told Journalist Ted Koppel the Issue Was “Total > Nonsense”; New York Times Exposé Prompted White House Anger, Panic Over > Revelations; Kissinger: “I don’t see why we have to sit around and let a > country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its own > people”; Archive Calls for Release of Still-Secret Colby Testimony and > Church Committee > Records > > > > > > > *THE CIA-in-CHILE SCANDAL at 50* > > <https://default.salsalabs.org/Tef5191d4-d4d6-49b8-8652-712564b7fa51/12238b38-d371-4bc9-b2b2-ab5a3bdb144f> > Kissinger Misled President, Cabinet and Reporters On CIA Role In Chile, > Documents Show; > Told Journalist Ted Koppel the Issue Was “Total Nonsense” *New York Times* > Exposé Prompted White House Anger, Panic Over Revelations Secret White > House Memo Documented Kissinger’s Attitude: “I Don’t See Why We Have to Sit > Around and Let a Country Go Communist Due to the Irresponsibility of its > Own People” Archive Calls for Release of Still-Secret Colby Testimony and > Church Committee Records > > *Washington, D.C., September 9, 2024* – Fifty years ago, as the *New York > Times* prepared to break a major exposé on CIA covert operations in > Chile, the architect of those operations, Henry Kissinger, misled President > Gerald Ford about clandestine U.S. efforts to undermine the elected > government of Socialist Party leader Salvador Allende, documents posted > today by the National Security Archive show. The covert operations were > “designed to keep the democratic process going,” Kissinger briefed Ford in > the Oval Office two days before the article appeared fifty years ago this > week. According to Kissinger, “there was no attempt at a coup.” > > “I saw the Chile story,” Ford told Kissinger on September 9, 1974. “Are > there any repercussions?” Kissinger replied: “Not really.” > > In fact, the front-page story written by investigative reporter Seymour > Hersh set in motion the biggest covert operations scandal the intelligence > community had ever experienced and led directly to the formation of the > Senate Church Committee, which conducted the first major congressional > investigation of CIA covert actions in Chile and elsewhere. The political > repercussions forced President Ford to publicly acknowledge the CIA > operations in Chile while forcefully denying they had anything to do with > fomenting a coup. > > Congressional investigations led to legislation to enhance checks and > balances on CIA operations and curtail the ability of future presidents to > “plausibly deny” covert action programs abroad. White House documents > published today reveal the acute consternation expressed by Ford and > Kissinger that covert operations might be restrained: “We need a CIA and we > need covert operations,” Ford told his Cabinet nine days after the *Times > *exposé was published. > > The Hersh story was based on a summary of secret testimony by CIA director > William Colby, who provided an overview of covert operations against > Allende in Chile during an executive session of the House Armed Services > Committee on April 22, 1974. Colby informed the Committee that between 1962 > and 1973 the ultra-secret “40 Committee” had authorized the CIA to spend > $11 million in Chile, including $8 million to “destabilize” the Allende > government and “precipitate its downfall.” > > Fifty years after the scandal broke over CIA operations in Chile, Colby’s > testimony remains classified, as does the entire 48-page transcript of the > closed hearing. Last year, the Chilean government asked the Biden > administration to declassify those records as a gesture of > “declassification diplomacy” for the 50th anniversary of the coup, but the > CIA proved to be uncooperative. > > “For the sake of historical accountability, it is imperative that the CIA > declassify Colby’s testimony on Chile, as well as other relevant > documentation,” stated Peter Kornbluh, who directs the Archive’s Chile > Documentation Project. “A half century of secrecy surrounding these > records,” Kornbluh noted, “must come to an end.” > https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/chile/2024-09-09/cia-chile-scandal-50 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#32153): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/32153 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/108366591/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
