It was
by no means a certainty that the US would establish a formal
intelligence agency after World War II. There had been, as we've
discovered, a long tradition against secret spying in the United States;
the documents of the time are also filled with frightened references to
the United States creating its own "Gestapo."
Today's class will examine how and why the CIA was created, first
through the eyes of three historians; then, more interestingly, through
an intensive look at some documents from the period. Keep in mind the
context: there was no obvious model on which Truman administration
officials could base their recommendations. |
