Have you ever heard of Operation Mockingbird?

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."