CIA old hands at internal meddling
Our country has quietly interfered in many international elections for its own ends
Leak or Hack? During the recent U.S. presidential campaign a serious geo-political game was played to help ensure the defeat of one candidate. The precise character of that game is not yet clear.
The CIA, Obama administration and a growing chorus of others argue the WikiLeaks release of emails from the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign resulted from Russian hacking. Sadly, interfering in national elections is not new for our country — but, not in the way most people think.
This issue is heating up in the current post-election environment. President Obama wants a report before he leaves office on January 20th. Congress is planning hearings. The truth may or may not come out. Interfering in other peoples’ elections is an egregious act. People are incensed that another country would interfere in and influence the outcome our most important election.
The reality is that undoubtedly many people in the CIA are laughing at how this interference influenced the election.
I say that because our CIA has a long history of directly interfering in the internal affairs and elections of other countries using fake news, bribery, honeypots, assassinations, and a long litany of other dirty tricks.
CIA interference has shaped the modern global political scene and devastated the lives of millions of people around the world.
Since World War II, the U.S. government has interfered in the internal affairs of more than 60 countries to destroy “unfriendly” governments including the overthrow of democratically elected leaders and to impose “friendly” governments — usually military and authoritarian dictatorships. Below is a partial list of countries where the CIA has interfered specifically in their elections, according to William Blum’s 2014 book, “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since World War II”:
Australia (1975), Brazil (1962-64), British Guiana (1953), Bulgaria (1990), Chile (1964-73), Dominican Republic (1962), Ecuador (1960-63), Guatemala (1954 and 1963), Haiti (1991), Indonesia (1955-1965), Italy (1948), Jamaica (1975), Laos (1958-1960), Lebanon (1952), Panama (1984,1989), Philippines (1961), and Ukraine (2014).
The election of Donald Trump — with external meddling — may prove as detrimental to the American people as CIA interference has proven in these other countries.
Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, a group of retired government intelligence specialists, argue this intrusion was not a hack but rather a leak from within Democratic Party organizations. The group’s article found on the Consortiumnews website suggests the National Security Agency would have clear evidence if a hack had occurred. And that evidence has not been presented.
Hacked or leaked. The integrity of the 2016 presidential campaign was damaged by the one-sided release of documents. The “why” is somewhat evident; the “who” remains to be determined.
Since the CIA has also long interfered in U.S. internal affairs, I suggest looking first at that organization.