STREAMING VIDEO
2 Class Sessions

In June of 1948, less than a year after it was established, the Central Intelligence Agency was authorized to conduct “covert operations” that were “so planned and executed that any U.S. Government responsibility for them is not evident to unauthorized persons and that if uncovered the U.S. Government can plausibly disclaim any responsibility for them.”

Since then, the CIA has operated as a secret army under the President, unaccountable to Congress and at times in opposition to the President himself.

The agency has carried out clandestine operations that overthrew the governments of Iran, Guatemala, Vietnam, British Guiana, and Chile and has attempted to depose the leaders of dozens more countries. In addition to conducting espionage against foreign governments, the CIA has been ordered by many presidents to spy on American critics of U.S. foreign policy, including journalists, antiwar activists, and presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.

Various congressional investigations have revealed that the CIA has used torture to interrogate terrorism suspects, conducted experiments with LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs to enhance its interrogations techniques, and likely collaborated with transnational criminal organizations in trafficking heroin and cocaine.

In this 2-part course, historian Thaddeus Russell guides participants through the story of the most controversial agency in the U.S. government and ask whether and to what extent it has fulfilled its promise of making the world safer for liberty, democracy, and America.

To access this streaming video course, you may purchase it individually for $65 or join Unregistered Academy.