The National Security State

[Benjamin Cole]

This is a completely readable and fascinating account of Watergate within the broader context of a national security state. Yes, a little OT in this forum, but germane for insights. 

Nixon’s Wars: Secrecy, Watergate, and the CIA

https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1350&context=etd

This is the bachelor's thesis of a fellow named Chris Collins, at Eastern Kentucky University, who thereafter became a squad leader in the US Army, judging from Linked In. That's all I know about him, but he appears to have written in a deep, but non-polemical style. 

This is just one of dozens of interesting insights from the thesis:

"The program, called VENONA, was so secret that even President Truman was not fully informed of its existence.19 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Omar Bradley made the decision to keep the program secret 16 Richard Nixon, Six Crises (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962), 13. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid., 59. 19 Moynihan, Secrecy, 61-62. 14 from all other government agencies except for the FBI, as an internal FBI memo from October 1949 reveals. It stated that General Bradley would “personally assume the responsibility of advising the President or anyone else in authority if the contents of any of this material so demanded,” but that the FBI should “not handle the material in such a way that [CIA Director] Admiral [Roscoe] Hillenkoetter or anyone else outside the Army Security Agency and the Bureau are aware of the contents of these messages and the activity being conducted.”20 The VENONA intercepts had produced proof of Hiss’s espionage for the Soviet Union (and also Harry D. White’s), but due to the secrecy of the operation, it could not be made public...."

OK, so the Army Security Agency was running intercepts, and keeping results secret from even the CIA, and possibly the President. 

Collins' larger observation is the national security state has become so pervasive, that it ends up as influential and playing a role in all sorts of events, such as Watergate, or Iran-Contra and so on. 

We tend to think about the CIA a lot in this forum, and we probably should. But there are 17 national intel agencies. John Newman is evidently taking a long look at other military intel. The VENONA project is a reminder that not everything has to run through the CIA, or possibly the NSA, thought it might on paper. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dennis Berube]

On 9/13/2021 at 10:35 PM, Benjamin Cole said:

The VENONA intercepts had produced proof of Hiss’s espionage for the Soviet Union (and also Harry D. White’s), but due to the secrecy of the operation, it could not be made public...."

Benjamin, the case for Hiss being a traitor is thin at best and VENONA certainly proves nothing. For starters, the original VENONA papers do not exist and no one ever was able to verify who "Ales" was including a 20 year hunt by the FBI. VENONA cable 1579 mentions the name Hiss in this context. "...has reported [gobbledygook] from the State Department by the name of HISS." Considering that Hiss was of course known to the Soviet Services as he actually held an official government position, this is a long way from proof of anything. The idea that a double agent would be referred to by his actual name or even "Ales" is a bit ridiculous and combined with no originals, is worthless.

Russian general Vitaly Pavlov, who was head of KGB foreign intel in 1940 and working there the whole time this episode was going on, said "All of this is pure fabrication" in regards to Hiss and Hopkins. And it was. In my opinion, when you couple the Hiss/Hopkins/White saga with what happened to Wallace (by the Democratic party bosses), it seems rather clear that the deep state forces hated the psychological and political progress of the New Deal Democratic party.

[Benjamin Cole]

1 hour ago, Dennis Berube said:

Benjamin, the case for Hiss being a traitor is thin at best and VENONA certainly proves nothing. For starters, the original VENONA papers do not exist and no one ever was able to verify who "Ales" was including a 20 year hunt by the FBI. VENONA cable 1579 mentions the name Hiss in this context. "...has reported [gobbledygook] from the State Department by the name of HISS." Considering that Hiss was of course known to the Soviet Services as he actually held an official government position, this is a long way from proof of anything. The idea that a double agent would be referred to by his actual name or even "Ales" is a bit ridiculous and combined with no originals, is worthless.

Russian general Vitaly Pavlov, who was head of KGB foreign intel in 1940 and working there the whole time this episode was going on, said "All of this is pure fabrication" in regards to Hiss and Hopkins. And it was. In my opinion, when you couple the Hiss/Hopkins/White saga with what happened to Wallace (by the Democratic party bosses), it seems rather clear that the deep state forces hated the psychological and political progress of the New Deal Democratic party.

Dennis B.-

Thanks for your comment.

I am no expert on the Hiss affair and I will defer to you. Perhaps the author, Chris Collins, is in error in this matter.

But in the larger picture. Collins paints a grim picture of a ubiquitous national security state, and that the mere existence of a such a large apparatus is problematic. 

As a "buff," I have been reading about the national security state since the 1960s, and I found his thesis is worthwhile read, even if I "knew most of the stuff" going in.  His perspective is insightful.