CIA Involvement and Personal Experiences

Exactly when did your own association with the CIA

start, and in what fashion?

In 1958, when I came home from In- from India.

I discussed with student, uh, leaders, past and

present. Uh, it was at that point that the student leaders

said to me that they had, in the past, received funds for

international programs from the CIA, and that they

felt that this was important and could also be partly funded by the

CIA.

And the, the private individuals to whom I went,

uh, often had, uh,

particular points of view to put forward, which would have been

much, much more restricting than, than, uh, the CIA

funds were, which were free. I mean, no one was told what to say.

What do you mean they were free? You mean to say it

was easier for you to work for

the CIA than a private organization?

That's right. That's right. And, and the, the reason I think that comes

as a surprise, as it did to me at the time, I mean, I

had, uh, the conventional liberal's view of the CIA

as a right-wing incendiary group.

And I was amazed to discover

that this was far from the case, that they were enlightened, liberal,

nonpartisan activists of the sort.

When the story broke that I had once been...

that I had for four years been a Central Intelligence agent, I

was demonstrating outside the Pentagon underneath Mr.

McNamara's office against bombing in Vietnam.

And, uh, this didn't precisely fit with the image

of a CIA

agent, but then neither does the CIA.