Reflections on a world with too much spying

  Just Another Psyop Originally published Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:48:55 +0000 I'll begin this post by quoting what I consider to be the one of the most seminal passages in A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Cold War Experiments . Keep in mind I did not read this book nor know any of these details until mid-2011. In 1952, a twenty-four year old American named Stanley Milton Glickman was pursuing a promising career as an artist in France. Glickman, the son of a successful New York furrier, had moved to Paris in the summer of 1951 to study painting at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, and about seven months later, as an apprentice in the studio of renowned French modernist Fernand Leger. (In the 1940s, Leger had decorated the New York City apartment of Nelson A. Rockefeller.) By early autumn 1952, Glickman had his own studio on the outskirts of Paris and already had one of his paintings displayed in New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. One evening in

Many are probably familiar with the “What ___ thinks you do” meme, comprised of four photos, usually to humorous effect. The idea here is similar, comparing and contrasting the naive and ignorant—and yet pervasive—with what really happens and why. CIA What we think happens: The Congolese President’s nephew. He broke his leg due to a tree climbing-related accident and is in the hospital recuperating. CIA learns of this quickly through its confidential sources. They inform the US Ambassador to the Congo who is able to swiftly send condolences and gifts, garnering trust and brownie and points with the country’s President, giving some US companies an advantage over others by showing the US’ good side. This is the kind of thing you see in movies or books by former ambassadors. What really happens: CIA Team A, who by compartmentation/ need-to-know know nothing of what CIA Team B is doing, nor even probably who they are, has already made some arrangements. The have bribed a worker at a local