A son of the former CIA director has made a movie about his father's life entitled "The Man Nobody Knew: In Search of My Father, CIA Spymaster William Colby". It seems the film is generating some family feuding, but that's another issue. Of interest to the history teacher would be the knowledge that it was Colby who released inside information about the agency to the public. This was referred to as revealing the "family jewels" and dealt with "...agency's assassination attempts, drug testing on unwitting humans and eavesdropping on war protesters". This article notes that it was the disclosure of this information that "...saved the CIA from destruction when members of Congress were eager for its death" (why that is the case, I don't understand). The film claims that it was Colby that ran the Phoenix Program during the Vietnam War that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Viet Cong agents in South Vietnam; causing this program to be called an assassination program. Ironically, even his death was thought by many to be an assassination. However, the film says his death was a suicide; he drowned while canoeing off the eastern shore of Maryland 15 years ago. Because of his release of the "family jewels", many in the agency hated him.
(Source: "Portrayal of Spymaster Father Divides his Family" by Ian Shapira of The Washington Post. In The Virginian Pilot on 11/24/11).
No comments:
Post a Comment