Ever wonder what kind of work a spy agency actually does? Real-world espionage rarely resembles the on-screen exploits of Hollywood secret agents. The entangled (and often complicated) grand chess game of clandestine military operations has had many bloody and unintended world consequences. The successes and failures of spies and their agencies overall have shaped foreign policy, altered the course of wars, and left a deep (though usually hidden) impression on world history.
An excerpt from episode 2, "Post-War Policy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad CIA" in which we discuss declassified US government operations.
An examination of U.S. covert-action policy since World War II reveals many surprising facts that are not always fully appreciated. Both the scope and the scale of such operations have often times been enormous. Black operations--which can be more accurately described as secret wars, the most extreme form of covert action--have resulted in countless deaths and immense destruction. Covert operations and proxy wars have become the instrument of choice for hardliner policymakers and corrupt government agencies who assume that a cold war status quo is inevitable, therefore regime change is preferable.
Covert operations, by definition, are difficult to examine. Because they are shrouded in propaganda and secrecy, one is never sure whether all the relevant data concerning their scope, origin, and degree of success are at hand. Is it time for a reassessment of the role of covert operations in U.S. foreign policy? How effective are they? Under what circumstances (if any) should they be used? What reforms are needed?
You decide.
***CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro/Terms
05:00 Black Opts (Flight 455)
08:00 Opt Mocking Bird
17:00 Project Echelon (Trail Blazer VS Thin Thread)
23:23 Project Azorian
27:00 Iran Contra
33:22 COINTELPRO
47:00 Opt Ajax
49:00 Opt Gladio
51:37 Opt Paperclip
53:58 Opt Fast and Furious
1:20:00 Opt Northwoods
Error Corrections:
01:22:20 Markus was thinking of the "Lusitania". Apologies to the people of Lithuania
01:00:00 Drew was having trouble remembering the name of the term "Agent Provocateur"
"Would you like to know more?":
Operation Popeye (weather manipulation)
Project Blue Beam (alien invasion psy-op)
Operation Jade Helm (co-intel pro, mastering the human domain)
Project Thor (kinetic orbital strike satellite weapon)
Operation Starfish Prime (high-altitude aerial nuclear weapons testing)
Project Camelot (American foreign counterinsurgency)
Operation Unthinkable (Anti-Soviet Military Pan)
***LINKS:
Project Azorian
Operation Paper Clip
Flight 455
The CIA and the Media
***CONTACT US:
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