Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Kid Berwyn

(25,153 posts)
2. PNAC Lives
Sat May 23, 2026, 08:22 AM
Saturday

"Anyone can go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran."

It's no bug: The rich get richer.

ETA: Reason CIA created was to provide information to President Truman, not to serve as Global Chaos Agent. His words on the subject, printed briefly in WaPo and in a few other papers after the assassination of President Kennedy:



Limit CIA Role To Intelligence

By Harry S Truman
The Washington Post, December 22, 1963 - page A11

INDEPENDENCE, MO., Dec. 21 — I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency—CIA. At least, I would like to submit here the original reason why I thought it necessary to organize this Agency during my Administration, what I expected it to do and how it was to operate as an arm of the President.

I think it is fairly obvious that by and large a President's performance in office is as effective as the information he has and the information he gets. That is to say, that assuming the President himself possesses a knowledge of our history, a sensitive understanding of our institutions, and an insight into the needs and aspirations of the people, he needs to have available to him the most accurate and up-to-the-minute information on what is going on everywhere in the world, and particularly of the trends and developments in all the danger spots in the contest between East and West. This is an immense task and requires a special kind of an intelligence facility.

Of course, every President has available to him all the information gathered by the many intelligence agencies already in existence. The Departments of State, Defense, Commerce, Interior and others are constantly engaged in extensive information gathering and have done excellent work.

But their collective information reached the President all too frequently in conflicting conclusions. At times, the intelligence reports tended to be slanted to conform to established positions of a given department. This becomes confusing and what's worse, such intelligence is of little use to a President in reaching the right decisions.

Therefore, I decided to set up a special organization charged with the collection of all intelligence reports from every available source, and to have those reports reach me as President without department "treatment" or interpretations.

I wanted and needed the information in its "natural raw" state and in as comprehensive a volume as it was practical for me to make full use of it. But the most important thing about this move was to guard against the chance of intelligence being used to influence or to lead the President into unwise decisions—and I thought it was necessary that the President do his own thinking and evaluating.

Since the responsibility for decision making was his—then he had to be sure that no information is kept from him for whatever reason at the discretion of any one department or agency, or that unpleasant facts be kept from him. There are always those who would want to shield a President from bad news or misjudgments to spare him from being "upset."

For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas.

I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations. Some of the complications and embarrassment I think we have experienced are in part attributable to the fact that this quiet intelligence arm of the President has been so removed from its intended role that it is being interpreted as a symbol of sinister and mysterious foreign intrigue—and a subject for cold war enemy propaganda.

With all the nonsense put out by Communist propaganda about "Yankee imperialism," "exploitive capitalism," "war-mongering," "monopolists," in their name-calling assault on the West, the last thing we needed was for the CIA to be seized upon as something akin to a subverting influence in the affairs of other people.

I well knew the first temporary director of the CIA, Adm. Souers, and the later permanent directors of the CIA, Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg and Allen Dulles. These were men of the highest character, patriotism and integrity—and I assume this is true of all those who continue in charge.

But there are now some searching questions that need to be answered. I, therefore, would like to see the CIA be restored to its original assignment as the intelligence arm of the President, and that whatever else it can properly perform in that special field—and that its operational duties be terminated or properly used elsewhere.

We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.

SOURCE: http://www.maebrussell.com/Prouty/Harry%20Truman's%20CIA%20article.html



That would be better known, but for some reason it got left out of the afternoon edition and out of most all of the nation’s other newspapers.

Recommendations

14 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

It is always about power, control, money. Irish_Dem Saturday #1
Yup, follow the money. Venazuela has the largest reserves of oil... Now we control in. Who has the mitch96 Saturday #21
PNAC Lives Kid Berwyn Saturday #2
Had Alan Dulles not spearheaded the overthrow of Iran's government in 1953, Iran might be an ally today. Lonestarblue Saturday #9
I can appreciate Truman's reasoning here, but just like slightlv Saturday #15
If the Venezuelans realize that Delcy turned Maduro in, those in his inner circle Baitball Blogger Saturday #3
Absolutely, gab13by13 Saturday #4
I believe it was to Jack the price of oil 100%. It pays off the onshore big oil donors who were next in line first Cheezoholic Saturday #5
I thought that the position of president in Iran wnylib Saturday #6
My scorecard looks very different GreatGazoo Saturday #7
Nice post, I like it, gab13by13 Saturday #10
I like your points about more than oil needs to move through Hormuz GreatGazoo Saturday #18
And Iranians will never forget . . . AverageOldGuy Saturday #8
Maybe if Democrats regain control of government gab13by13 Saturday #12
And we keep giving them more things to "remember"... Wounded Bear Saturday #13
Why does the press never challenge Trump when he spews these absurd lies? OGBuzz Saturday #11
If that indeed was the "plan" it was a stupid plan from the get go. onenote Saturday #14
Not to mention that gab13by13 Saturday #16
We had better plans when we played army as kids and we were 6 years old. surfered Saturday #17
Did Kraznov really *think* he could achieve regime change in Iran, then control their oil? Martin Eden Saturday #19
I think Ahmadenijad is dead. ChicagoTeamster Saturday #20
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»We Now Know With Certaint...»Reply #2