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Event Date: 29 April – 1 May 2011
East Midlands Conference Centre
University of Nottingham  
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RJ

Landscapes of Secrecy: The CIA in History, Fiction and Memory

Dr Paul McGarr (University of Nottingham) – Playing Games with History’: The State Department, the CIA, and the FRUS series

Successive Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, from William Colby to Michael Hayden, have offered much heralded commitments to CIA ‘openness’ and transparency. Much of the CIA’s official operational history from its first three decades, however, remains secret. Until recently, the Agency’s principal opponents in the battle to control the representation of CIA activities undertaken between the late 1940s, and the early 1970s, have been memoir writers, journalists and intelligence historians. From the early 1990s, however, the CIA came under pressure to open up its archives from a new, and in many respects, much more formidable player, inside the United States Government. Since late 1991, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act has legally mandated the State Department’s Office of the Historian to ensure that its flagship publication, The Foreign Relations of the United States series provides a ‘through, accurate and reliable’ account of US foreign policy, not more than 30 years after the fact. The State Department’s subsequent efforts to incorporate ever greater amounts of CIA documentation into the Foreign Relations series have provoked consternation, outrage, and on occasions, feelings bordering on panic, inside the Agency’s Langley headquarters. Using declassified files, this paper examines the State Department’s qualified, uneven, and often painfully slow progress, in opening up CIA history.

Paul McGarr is a lecturer in American Foreign Relations at the University of Nottingham. At Nottingham, he is currently attached to a large AHRC funded project entitled ‘Landscapes of Secrecy: The CIA and the Contested Record of US Foreign Policy 1947-2001’. He has published on aspects of Anglo-American political and cultural exchange with the developing world in The International History Review, The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, and Diplomacy & Statecraft. At present, he is writing a book on CIA representation in the State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States series. His first monograph, Himalayan Frontiers: Britain, the United States and the Cold War in South Asia, which examines post-war Anglo-American relations with India and Pakistan, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press.

Contact information: School of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD.

Email: Paul.Mcgarr@nottingham.ac.uk

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Event Date: 29 April – 1 May 2011
East Midlands Conference Centre
University of Nottingham  
University Park
Nottingham NG7 2RJ

Landscapes of Secrecy: The CIA in History, Fiction and Memory

PROGRAMME

DAY 1: FRIDAY 29 APRIL 2011

Opening Remarks,  Richard J. Aldrich (University of Warwick).

Panel 1a: Origins: OSS and the rebirth of the CIA

Chair: Dr Kaeten Mistry (University of Warwick)

Professor Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (University of Edinburgh)
“The Origins of the CIA” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Richard Immerman (Temple University)
“From the OSS to the CIA” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Nick Cullather (Indiana University)
“The CIA, the culture of intelligence failure, and the Bogotazo episode of 1948’
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 1b: The CIA, Television and Film

Chair/Discussant: Professor Tony Shaw (University of Hertfordshire)

Simon Willmetts (University of Warwick)
“Hitchcock and the CIA” (AUDIO HERE)

Dr Trevor McCrisken (University of Warwick)
“The CIA and American Television” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 2a: The CIA in the early Cold War

Chair: Dr Helen Laville (University of Birmingham)

Dr David Robarge (CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence)
“Origins and Development of the CIA Paramilitary function in the early Cold War”
(AUDIO HERE)

Professor Hugh Wilford (California State University Long Beach)
“America’s Great Game: The CIA and the Arab World in the Early Cold War”
(AUDIO HERE)

Laura Moorhead (Independent Scholar)
“Norwood Allman, the CIA and Representations of Intelligence”
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 2b: The CIA and their friends

Chair: Professor David Stafford (University of Edinburgh)

Professor Cees Wiebes (NcTB Netherlands)
“Oh my God, the Dutch did it again” : The Dutch-CIA intelligence liaison ”
(AUDIO HERE)

Peer Henrik Hansen (Cold War Museum, Denmark)
“Cooperation, complications and covert operations: CIA and Danish Intelligence, 1946-63”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Stefania Paladini (Coventry University) –
Viewed by the Allies: The Agency’s (mis)perception in Italy
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 2c: The CIA and American Faction and Fiction and the Press

Chair/Discussant: Professor Wesley Wark (University of Toronto)

Professor Fred Hitz (University of Virginia)
” The Myths and Reality of Espionage” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Jonathan Nashel (University of South Bend, Indiana)
“Ian Fleming and Allen Dulles: Facts, Fictions, and Empires”

Professor Richard J. Aldrich (University of Warwick)
“Renegades and Outriders: The CIA and Journalism” (AUDIO HERE)

Keynote Speech

Chair: Professor Shearer West (Director of Research, Arts and Humanities Research Council)

Shearer West introduces Robert Jervis.

Professor Robert Jervis (Columbia University)
“Why the CIA Doesn’t Do Better” (AUDIO HERE)

Panel 3a: The CIA, declassification, and the Foreign Relations of the United States series

Chair: Professor Richard Immerman (Temple University)

Ted Keefer (former general editor of the Foreign Relations of the United States series, Office of the Historian, State Department)
“The Foreign Relations series and secrecy” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Robert J. McMahon (Mershon Center, Ohio State University)
“The CIA and the FRUS series: the Indonesian case” (AUDIO HERE)

Dr Paul McGarr (University of Nottingham)
“’Playing Games with History’: The State Department, the CIA, and the FRUS series”
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 3b: Lost landscapes

Chair/Discussant: Dr Steve Hewitt (University of Birmingham)

Dr Zakia Shiraz (University of Warwick)
“White Out: The CIA and the Drugs Debate” (AUDIO HERE)

Dr Helen Laville (University of Birmingham)
“Women and the CIA” (AUDIO HERE)

Dr Dominik Smyrgala (Faculty of International Relations, Collegium Civitas, Warsaw, Poland)
“The CIA and the Polish Cold War Film and Literature” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 3c: The changing roles of the CIA and the globalisation of intelligence

Chair/Discussant: Professor Scott Lucas (University of Birmingham)
Eugene S. Poteat, AFIO
“The Ever-Changing Role of the CIA: From OSS Covert Operations, to Analysis, to High-Tech and Back”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Adam Svendsen (Research Consultant)
“The CIA and the Globalisation of Intelligence” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

After dinner speaker:

Richard J. Aldrich introduces Chirs Andrew.

Professor Chris Andrew (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
“’The CIA and US Intelligence: the view from Moscow and London”
(AUDIO HERE)

DAY 2: SATURDAY 30 APRIL 2011

Panel 4a: Cuba, the Bay of Pigs, and the CIA

Chair: Professor Randall B. Woods (University of Arkansas)

Professor Peter Kornbluh (National Security Archive)
“Cuba, the Bay of Pigs and the CIA” (AUDIO HERE)

James Perry (Senior Analyst, Northrop Grumman)
‘The Necessary Failure: the Bay of Pigs in Global Context”
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 4b: The CIA, Memoirs and Secrecy

Chair/Discussant: Dr David Robarge (CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence)

Professor Mark Fenster
“Varieties of Deference to ‘Extraordinary Needs’: CIA and Secrecy in the Courts”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Chris Moran (University of Warwick)
“Memories and Memoirs” (AUDIO HERE)

John Hollister Hedley (former chairman of CIA Publications Review Board)
“The CIA and the review of publications by CIA authors”
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 4c: The CIA and intelligence assessment in historical perspective

Chair: Ted Keefer (former general editor of the Foreign Relations of the United States series, Office of the Historian, State Department)

Professor Len Scott (Aberystwyth University)
“The CIA and the Cuban Missile Crisis” (AUDIO HERE)

Dr David Milne (University of East Anglia)
“Excessive Optimism and the politicization of intelligence on Vietnam”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Robert McNamara (University of Ulster)
“US intelligence assessments and the ‘Unholy alliance’ of Southern Africa c. 1960-80”
(AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 5a: The CIA in the era of the Nixon administration

Chair: Professor Peter Kornbluh (National Security Archive)

Dr Christian Gustafson (Brunel University)
“Nixon, Kissinger, the CIA, and Chile” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Randall B. Woods (University of Arkansas)
“William E. Colby and the CIA” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 5b: The CIA and the post-Cold War world

Chair/Discussant: Dr Steve Hewitt (University of Birmingham)

Dr Stephen Marrin (Brunel University)
“The CIA’s analysis in the post-Cold War World”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Maria Ryan (University of Nottingham)
“‘Wilful Blindness or Blissful Ignorance? The United States and the Successful Denuclearisation of Iraq’”
(AUDIO HERE)

Tony Field (University of Warwick)
“The CIA and counter-terrorism intelligence” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 5c: CIA Operations and the question of Covert Action

Chair/Discussant: Professor Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (University of Edinburgh)

Dr David Robarge (CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence)
“CIA Covert Action and Democracy” (AUDIO HERE)

Dr David Ryan (University College, Cork)
“Mining Nicaragua’s Harbours and Undermining CIA Recovery ”
(AUDIO HERE)

John Prados (National Security Archive)
“Whither Covert Operations?” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Plenary address.

Chair: Professor Richard J. Aldrich (University of Warwick)

Richard J. Aldrich introduces Wesley Wark.

Professor Wesley Wark (University of Toronto)
“The CIA and Western Culture” (AUDIO HERE)

Panel 6a: Counter-intelligence and the Soviet Bloc

Chair/Discussant: Gill Bennett

Hayden Peake
“On the Origins of Cold War Counterintelligence in the United States”
(AUDIO HERE)

Professor Jonathan Haslam (University of Cambridge)
“Soviet counter-intelligence against US operations in Moscow”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Paul Maddrell (Aberystwyth University)
“The CIA and the GDR in the Cold War” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 6b: Cultural encounters

Chair/Discussant: Professor Fred Hitz (University of Virginia)

Dr Jason Harding (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
“The CIA and Encounter magazine” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Kathryn Olmsted (UC Davis)
“The CIA and Conspiracy Theories” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Panel 6c: Technical Collection, and the National Estimating System

Chair/Discussant: Cees Wiebes (NcTB Netherlands)

Dr Matthew Aid (National Security Archive)
“The CIA sigint programme and  its relations with the NSA”
(AUDIO HERE)

Chris Pocock (author and defense editor)
“The Black Bats: Covert Air Operations over China from Taiwan, 1951-1969”
(AUDIO HERE)

Dr Philip Davies (Brunel University)
“The CIA versus the NIE” (AUDIO HERE)

discussion.

Roundtable panel 7a: The CIA and declassification

Chair: Dr Matthew Aid (National  Security Archive)

Dr David Robarge (CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence)
“Recent CIA initiatives in the field” (AUDIO HERE)

Professor Nick Cullather (Indiana University)

Professor Mark Fenster (University of Florida)

Professor Richard Immerman (Temple University)

Dr Paul McGarr (University of Nottingham)

Professor Robert J. McMahon (Mershon Center, Ohio State University)

(Roundtable AUDIO HERE)

Roundtable panel 7b: The CIA and post-war American culture

Chair/Discussant: Professor Scott Lucas (University of Birmingham)

Professor Fred Hitz (University of Virginia)

Professor Peter Kornbluh (National Security Archive)

Professor Jonathan Nashel (University of South Bend, Indiana)

Professor Wesley Wark (University of Toronto)

Professor Hugh Wilford (California State University, Long Beach)

(Roundtable AUDIO HERE)

closing lecture

Professor Richard J. Aldrich (University of Warwick)
“The History of GCHQ” CONFIDENTIAL (NOT RECORDED)

Postgraduate panels sponsored by the Eccles Centre at the British Library are here (click)

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Royal Holloway University of London Department of History
and The University of Leeds School of History

Event Date: 9 and 10 September 2010 
Royal Asiatic Society 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1

 

From Subjects to Citizens: Society and the Everyday State in India and Pakistan 1947 – 1964

This research, a three-year collaboration between the History departments at Royal Holloway and the University of Leeds, explores the shift from colonial rule to independence in three sites on the subcontinent – Uttar Pradesh (formerly theUnited Provinces), Sindh, and the Princely State of Hyderabad (Deccan) – withthe aim of unravelling the explicit meanings and relevance of ‘independence’ forthe new citizens of India and Pakistan in the two decades immediately following 1947.

The year 1947 has traditionally been viewed as a fundamental watershed, yet little work has hitherto looked at the development of popular, public cultures surrounding the state in South Asia at this time, and almost none has been comparative. There were powerful continuities as well as short-term and unanticipated developments operating at this time, which together set the terms for the foundation of both major states in their first generation after independence.

While the histories of India and Pakistan have come to be conceived separately and assumed to develop along divergent paths, they in fact both developed out of much the same set of historical experiences. In addition, the focus on the ‘high’ levels of politics and government in much historical writing on both countries both has arguably distracted attention away from the functioning of the state at the level of ‘everyday’ life – a level experienced by ordinary as well as extraordinary people.

This project thus sets out to correct these imbalances by contributing a (timely) empirical analysis of political developments in a part of the world in relation to which considerable debate is currently taking place both on the nature of the state in general, and on that of so called ‘failed states’ in particular.

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Royal Holloway University of London Department of History
and The University of Leeds School of History

Event Date: 9 and 10 September 2010 
Royal Asiatic Society 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1

Paul McGarr - The Viceroys are disappearing from the roundabouts in Delhi”: Art, Architecture and Imperial Iconoclasm in Post-colonial India

Over the past sixty years, Indian responses to the colonial dimension of the nation’s cultural history have been complex, fluid and highly contested. At various points since 1947, central and state governments, political parties, the media and the wider Indian public, have debated the merits of embracing, or rejecting, aspects of the cultural imprint that British colonialism left on the subcontinent. This paper begins by tracing the evolution of official and unofficial Indian attitudes to British colonial iconography between the late 1940s and the early 1970s. More precisely, it examines the domestic context in which the Government of India attempted to implement a national strategy designed to preserve a highly visible and potent symbol of the country’s colonial past; the effigies of British monarchs and officials that once dominated the public spaces in India’s cities and towns. It argues that the national government’s approach was misguided and ineffective. The paper then moves on to examine in more detail the state governments’ policy toward to colonial iconography in Uttar Pradesh, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting in the uprising of 1857. Here, emphasis is placed on debates over the contemporary political significance taken on by British colonial statuary; over the problems associated with its replacement with symbols of Indian nationalism; and over the broader impact that imperial iconoclasm had on Indo-British relations.

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