CIA Releases Controversial Bay of Pigs History
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nsarchive.gwu.edu
Washington,
D.C., October 31, 2016 – The CIA today released the long-contested Volume V
of its official history of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which it had ...
|
Toggle Description Document 02.CIA
History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Draft Volume V:
"CIA's Internal Investigation of the Bay of Pigs," Jack B. Pfeiffer,
April 18, 1984, Secret (with undated, unsigned cover sheet from J.K. McDonald,
Chief, CIA History Staff, and three Top Secret appendices)
CIA History Staff, Official History
of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Draft Volume V: "CIA's Internal
Investigation of the Bay of Pigs," Jack B. Pfeiffer, April 18, 1984,
Secret (with undated, unsigned cover sheet from J.K. McDonald, Chief, CIA
History Staff, and three Top Secret appendices)
Contents
The following quotes
are from Volume V by its author, Jack Pfeiffer:
“After more than
twenty years, it appears that fear of exposing the Agency’s dirty linen, rather
than any significant security information, is what prompts continued denial of
requests for release of these records. Although this volume may do nothing to
modify that position, hopefully it does put one
of the nastiest internal power struggles into
proper perspective for the Agency’s own record.” Page 4.
“He [member of the
Inspector General staff Robert Shaffer] also remembers that Kirkpatrick
directed the team members to destroy all of their working papers relating to
the survey because of the report’s sensitivity.” Page 13. A June 4, 1981, memo
on page 149 also notes that “We have no record of any Kirkpatrick ‘working papers’
on this subject. As far as we can tell, all of the OIG survey team’s working
papers related to the Bay of Pigs operation survey were destroyed in accordance
with Kirkpatrick’s instructions.”
“As Kirkpatrick had
suggested to PFIAB [President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board], the only
way a realistic evaluation of the operation could be made was to put these
documents in the hands of an impartial investigator. Reviewed without reference
to the four memorandums which make up the Taylor report, the IG and DDP
documents appear to be the results of a skunk
pissing contest.” Page 145.
»
Document 02.CIA History Staff, Official History
of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Draft Volume V: "CIA's Internal
Investigation of the Bay
2016 Change in FOI Law Overturns Agency Stonewalling
CIA fought release for years, claimed draft would
“confuse the public”
National Security Archive FOIA case prompted
Congress’s 25-year sunset
Posted October 31, 2016
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No.
564
Compiled and edited by Lauren Harper and Thomas
Blanton
For further information, contact:
Peter Kornbluh: 202.374.7281 and peter.kornbluh@gmail.com
Thomas Blanton: 202.994.7000 and nsarchiv@gwu.edu
For further information, contact:
Peter Kornbluh: 202.374.7281 and peter.kornbluh@gmail.com
Thomas Blanton: 202.994.7000 and nsarchiv@gwu.edu
To read all five volumes of the CIA's
Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation – together at last – click here
READ MORE
RELATED LINKS
CIA Successfully Conceals Bay of Pigs History
May 21, 2014
May 21, 2014
U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects CIA's Motion to Squash
Lawsuit on Bay of Pigs History
December 7, 2012
December 7, 2012
CIA Claims Release of its History
of the Bay of Pigs Debacle Would “Confuse the Public.”
April 17, 2012
April 17, 2012
History Held Hostage
By Peter Kornbluh, The Daily Beast, August 13, 2010
By Peter Kornbluh, The Daily Beast, August 13, 2010
Washington, D.C., October 31, 2016 – The CIA today
released the long-contested Volume V of its official
history of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which it had successfully concealed until
now by claiming that it was a “draft” and could be withheld from the public
under the FOIA’s "deliberative process" privilege. The National
Security Archive fought the agency for years
in court to release the historically significant volume, only to have the U.S.
Court of Appeals in 2014 uphold the CIA’s overly-broad interpretation of the
"deliberative process" privilege. Special credit for today’s release
goes to the champions of the 2016 FOIA amendments, which set a 25-year sunset
for the exemption: Senators John Cornyn, Patrick Leahy, and Chuck
Grassley, and Representatives Jason Chaffetz, Elijah Cummings, and Darrell
Issa.
Chief CIA Historian David Robarge states in the cover letter
announcing the document’s release that the agency is “releasing this draft
volume today because recent 2016 changes in the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requires us to release some drafts that are responsive to FOIA requests
if they are more than 25 years old.” This improvement – codified by the FOIA Improvement
Act of 2016 – came directly from the National Security Archive’s
years of litigation.
The CIA argued in court for years – backed by
Department of Justice lawyers – that the release of this volume, written by
Agency historian Jack B. Pfeiffer, would “confuse the public.” National
Security Archive Director Tom Blanton says, “Now the public gets to decide for
itself how confusing the CIA can be. How many thousands of taxpayer
dollars were wasted trying to hide a CIA historian's opinion that the Bay of
Pigs aftermath degenerated into a nasty internal power struggle?” Archive
senior analyst and Cuba Project Director Peter Kornbluh notes, “We know now why
the CIA attempted to cover up this document for so long. It is a vivid
historical example of what Pfeiffer called ‘the Agency's dirty linen’ that CIA
officials never wanted to air in public."
READ THE DOCUMENTS
Volume V - New Release
2016-09-00
Document 01: CIA History Staff, Cover letter, David S. Robarge, CIA Chief Historian, “Context for Readers of the Attached CIA Draft Volume,” September 2016, Non-classified
Document 01: CIA History Staff, Cover letter, David S. Robarge, CIA Chief Historian, “Context for Readers of the Attached CIA Draft Volume,” September 2016, Non-classified
1984-04-18
Document 02: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Draft Volume V: “CIA’s Internal Investigation of the Bay of Pigs,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, April 18, 1984, Secret (with undated, unsigned cover sheet from J.K. McDonald, Chief, CIA History Staff, and three Top Secret appendices)
Document 02: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Draft Volume V: “CIA’s Internal Investigation of the Bay of Pigs,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, April 18, 1984, Secret (with undated, unsigned cover sheet from J.K. McDonald, Chief, CIA History Staff, and three Top Secret appendices)
Volumes I, II, III, IV - Previously
Released
1979-09-00
Document 03: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume I: “Air Operations, March 1960 - April 1961," Jack B. Pfeiffer, September 1979, Top Secret
Document 03: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume I: “Air Operations, March 1960 - April 1961," Jack B. Pfeiffer, September 1979, Top Secret
1979-10-00
Document 04: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume II: “Participation in the Conduct of Foreign Policy,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, October 1979, Top Secret
Document 04: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume II: “Participation in the Conduct of Foreign Policy,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, October 1979, Top Secret
1979-12-00
Document 05: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume III: "Evolution of CIA's Anti-Castro Policies, 1951- January 1961,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, December 1979, Top Secret
Document 05: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume III: "Evolution of CIA's Anti-Castro Policies, 1951- January 1961,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, December 1979, Top Secret
1984-11-09
Document 06: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume IV: “The Taylor Committee Investigation of the Bay of Pigs,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, November 9, 1984, Unclassified
Document 06: CIA History Staff, Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, Volume IV: “The Taylor Committee Investigation of the Bay of Pigs,” Jack B. Pfeiffer, November 9, 1984, Unclassified
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