Philip Agee and the CIA in Ecuador, 1960-1963

FAIN: FT-278823-21

Marc Becker
Truman State University (Kirksville, MO 63501-4200)

Research leading to a journal article on Philip Agee’s 1975 account of his personal experience in the CIA, with a focus on Ecuador during the Cold War, 1960-1963.

Philip Agee published "Inside the Company: CIA Diary" in 1975 as the first uncensored exposé of CIA operations. His account drew both praise and condemnation for “naming names” of CIA case officers and their agents. Questions have always lingered regarding Agee’s motivation as well as the veracity of the information he includes, particularly since he did not have access to CIA or other government reports to write the book. Now, years later, with corroborating CIA and State Department documents along with foreign ministry records from Latin America, we can begin to answer these questions. Rather than examining this material through the lens of diplomatic history or international relations, this project employs a social history methodology to understand what we can learn from Agee’s account about those who were the targets of his investigations. The result will be a scholarly article in a peer-reviewed journal that will advance our knowledge of the Latin American left.

Associated Products

The CIA and Creole Anticommunism in Cold War Ecuador (Article)
Title: The CIA and Creole Anticommunism in Cold War Ecuador
Author: Marc Becker
Abstract: ‘Creole’, or domestically birthed, anticommunisms came in many different flavours and are in need of deeper investigation to under- stand how they responded to local conditions. This study examines one case from Ecuador where political leaders eagerly manipulated an anticommunist agenda to advance their own partisan prospects in ways that were distinct from the United States government’s global geopolitical concerns. Conservatives had their own motivations, which sometimes paralleled with and at other times came into conflict with those of larger political powers. These ‘creole anticommunisms’ could be more aggressive than those of United States officials, even as they served other purposes.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2023.2167981
Secondary URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14682745.2023.2167981
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Cold War History
Publisher: Cold War History

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