The United States Senate investigative committee led by Idaho Senator Frank Church and officially
titled “Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with
Respect to Intelligence Activities” uncovered disturbing evidence concerning Operation
Mockingbird and delivered the following conclusion:
"The CIA currently maintains a network of several
hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the
CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert
propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct access to a large
number of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news
agencies, radio and television stations, commercial book publishers, and other
foreign media outlets…. In examining the CIA’s past and present use of the U.S.
media, the Committee finds two reasons for concern. The first is the potential,
inherent in covert media operations, for manipulating or incidentally
misleading the American public. The second is the damage to the credibility and
independence of a free press which may be caused by covert relationships with
the U.S. journalists and media organizations.”
This assessment is more than forty years old. Imagine the dangerous advancements in stealth and deception since that time.
Even more alarming are President Truman's damning words about the anti-democratic syndicate that he helped set up--
"I think [the creation of the CIA] was a mistake. And if
I'd known what was going to happen, I never would have done it.
Why, they've got an organization over there in Virginia
now that is practically the equal of the Pentagon in many ways. And I think
I've told you, one Pentagon is one too many.
Now, as nearly as I can make out, those fellows
in the CIA don't just report on wars and the like, they go out and make their
own, and there's nobody to keep track of what they're up to. They spend
billions of dollars on stirring up trouble...They've become ... it's become a
government all of its own and all secret. They don't have to account to
anybody.
That's a very dangerous thing in a democratic society,
and it's got to be put a stop to. The people have got a right to know what
those birds are up to.
...you can't do any housecleaning because everything
that goes on is a damn secret... Secrecy and a free, democratic government
don't mix."
