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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

Eugene S. Poteat (AFIO) – The Ever-Changing Role of the CIA: From OSS Covert Operations, to Analysis, to High-Tech and Back

American Intelligence methods have evolved over the past 63 years, responding to changing national security needs. Four phases can be identified, each designed for the demands of the time, and overlapping. The first phase began in 1947 with an extension of the wartime paramilitary efforts of the OSS. The main threat at that time was the Communist subversion of Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Latin America. The newly-formed CIA was tasked with countering these efforts, and through covert action, and ample funding, managed to have considerable success in these countries. The operations officers enjoyed substantial tactical autonomy, and with minimum political supervision. This deficit of political oversight led to some overconfidence and over-reaching, and ended with a few missteps, the largest being the disastrous Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961, in Cuba. Covert action was, for a time, discredited and eclipsed.

The second phase ushered in the era of growing confidence in what was termed Analysis. This school of thought, championed by Sherman Kent, sought to deduce and inform policymakers through the means of scholarly and massive accumulation of all manner of factual details – overt and covert – for every country or area of possible interest. The pipe-smoking professor was the new model officer. This was a necessary effort, but proved insufficient because of a neglect of human resources on the ground in areas of concern. And this approach failed to answer the most critical intelligence question of the time, the “bomber and missile gap,” since we had no assets in the Soviet Union, and little accurate data emanated from the USSR on its own. This was the era of desk-bound intelligence collection, and came to be discredited and eclipsed.

The third phase worked to correct this deficit by scientific advances and development of technologies designed to synergize with human collection of Soviet policies and capability. Eisenhower, with the advice of prominent scientists, quickly established and promoted this effort. Early examples were the U-2 reconnaissance planes and the Corona satellite program. These were quite helpful in the Berlin and Cuban Missile crises. The height of the effort was the “Star Wars” missile defense program, instituted by Ronald Reagan.

The current fourth phase may be said to have started with the challenges of global Islamic terrorism, which began shortly before 1997 but shot to the top of the pile after September 2001. This required an integration of HUMINT, high-tech weapons such as the Predator, and Special Forces military intelligence on the ground, and analysis, in and from target areas.

Eugene S. Poteat is a retired senior intelligence officer. He was awarded the CIA’s Intelligence Medal of Merit and the National Reconnaissance Office Meritorious Civilian Award. He is President of AFIO – the Association For Intelligence Officers and is on the Board of Advisors of the International Spy Museum. He graduated from The Citadel (military college) with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1957, and holds a Master’s degree in Statecraft and National Security Affairs with a specialization in Intelligence Studies from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. His long career in scientific intelligence included work with U-2 and SR-71 class of aircraft and various space and naval reconnaissance systems. He also managed the CIA’s worldwide network of monitoring sites. His CIA assignments included the Directorate of Science and Technology, the National Reconnaissance Office, Technical Director of the Navy’s Special Programs Office and Executive Director of the Intelligence Research and Development Council. He served abroad in London, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Asia.

Email: g2poteat@gmail.com

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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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