American History Hit What If There Were No CIA?
Oct 16, 2025
Jeffrey Rogg, a Senior Research Fellow at the Global and National Security Institute and author of The Spy and the State, explores the intriguing thought of a world without the CIA. He discusses its origins following WWII and how its absence might have shaped global events like the coups in Guatemala and Iran. Rogg delves into the CIA's covert actions, the ethical dilemmas of programs like MKUltra, and how its secrecy has influenced public conspiracy theories. He warns that covert operations can lead to long-term instability and blowback.
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Why A Central Agency Was Created
- The CIA was created to centralize and directly deliver foreign intelligence to the U.S. president.
- It filled a coordination gap among military, naval, and domestic agencies after WWII.
Donovan’s OSS Legacy And Rivalries
- Wild Bill Donovan's OSS experience inspired many CIA capabilities but he was sidelined from leading the new agency.
- Personal rivalries, including with J. Edgar Hoover, shaped early intelligence politics.
Pearl Harbor Prompted Centralization
- Pearl Harbor exposed the U.S. intelligence fragmentation and spurred calls for centralized warning systems.
- Before the CIA, intelligence was decentralised across Navy, Army, and FBI with poor foreign espionage capability.
