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CIA spying on Noam Chomsky

Discussion in 'Anarchism and radical activism' started by ungovernable, Aug 15, 2013.

  1. ungovernable

    ungovernable Autonome Staff Member Uploader Admin Team Experienced member


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    After Multiple Denials, CIA Admits to Snooping on Noam Chomsky

    For years, the Central Intelligence Agency denied it had a secret file on MIT professor and famed dissident Noam Chomsky. But a new government disclosure obtained by The Cable reveals for the first time that the agency did in fact gather records on the anti-war iconoclast during his heyday in the 1970s.

    The disclosure also reveals that Chomsky's entire CIA file was scrubbed from Langley's archives, raising questions as to when the file was destroyed and under what authority.

    The breakthrough in the search for Chomsky's CIA file comes in the form of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For years, FOIA requests to the CIA garnered the same denial: "We did not locate any records responsive to your request." The denials were never entirely credible, given Chomsky's brazen anti-war activism in the 60s and 70s -- and the CIA's well-documented track record of domestic espionage in the Vietnam era. But the CIA kept denying, and many took the agency at its word.

    Now, a public records request by Chomsky biographer Fredric Maxwell reveals a memo between the CIA and the FBI that confirms the existence of a CIA file on Chomsky.

    Dated June 8, 1970, the memo discusses Chomsky's anti-war activities and asks the FBI for more information about an upcoming trip by anti-war activists to North Vietnam. The memo's author, a CIA official, says the trip has the "ENDORSEMENT OF NOAM CHOMSKY" and requests "ANY INFORMATION" about the people associated with the trip.

    After receiving the document, The Cable sent it to Athan Theoharis, a professor emeritus at Marquette University and an expert on FBI-CIA cooperation and information-gathering.

    "The June 1970 CIA communication confirms that the CIA created a file on Chomsky," said Theoharis. "That file, at a minimum, contained a copy of their communication to the FBI and the report on Chomsky that the FBI prepared in response to this request."

    The evidence also substantiates the fact that Chomsky's file was tampered with, says Theoharis. "The CIA's response to the FOIA requests that it has no file on Chomsky confirms that its Chomsky file was destroyed at an unknown time," he said.

    It's worth noting that the destruction of records is a legally treacherous activity. Under the Federal Records Act of 1950, all federal agencies are required to obtain advance approval from the national Archives for any proposed record disposition plans. The Archives is tasked with preserving records with "historical value."

    "Clearly, the CIA's file, or files, on Chomsky fall within these provisions," said Theoharis.

    It's unclear if the agency complied with protocols in the deletion of Chomsky's file. The CIA declined to comment for this story.

    What does Chomsky think? When The Cable presented him with evidence of his CIA file, the famous linguist responded with his trademark cynicism.

    "Some day it will be realized that systems of power typically try to extend their power in any way they can think of," he said. When asked if he was more disturbed by intelligence overreach today (given the latest NSA leaks) or intelligence overreach in the 70s, he dismissed the question as an apples-to-oranges comparison.

    "What was frightening in the ‘60s into early ‘70s was not so much spying as the domestic terror operations, COINTELPRO," he said, referring to the FBI's program to discredit and infiltrate domestic political organizations. "And also the lack of interest when they were exposed."

    Regardless,, the destruction of Chomsky's CIA file raises an even more disturbing question: Who else's file has evaporated from Langley's archives? What other chapters of CIA history will go untold?

    "It is important to learn when the CIA decided to destroy the Chomsky file and why they decided that it should be destroyed,'" said Theoharis. "Undeniably, Chomsky's was not the sole CIA file destroyed. How many other files were destroyed?"

    http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts ... mY.twitter
     

  2. hobolosophy

    hobolosophy Active Member Forum Member


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    Aug 5, 2013
     
    What a surprise! The CIA spies on people? Especially when they aren't good christian American patriots? And then they destroy the files before they might get leaked?
    Those fuckers do it again and again. I also saw this article earlier: http://rt.com/usa/chomsky-cia-file-destroy-457/
     
  3. Sick Boy 77

    Sick Boy 77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    What a big surprise. :o I can not believe the CIA ever snooping around someone's personal life. Stupid fucks need to mind their own business and get a life.
     
  4. Rebellious twit

    Rebellious twit Experienced Member Experienced member


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    you guys don't get it he was a threat to the fucking nation!, ignorant anarchists :lmao:
     
  5. hobolosophy

    hobolosophy Active Member Forum Member


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    That's the problem. They get payed shitloads for doing this job and they probably even enjoy it. Without it they would be just some creepy ass stalkers. But this way they are some good patriots who serve their country. Eww, I threw up into my mouth a little.
     
  6. Sick Boy 77

    Sick Boy 77 Experienced Member Uploader Experienced member


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    Mar 29, 2010
     
    Yeah. And that is where a lot of the tax dollars goes.
     
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