"Empire, Wilford powerfully argues, does not remain abroad. He frames the CIA as a boomerang institution, whose overseas tactics inevitably return to reshape the homeland." => This quote is reminiscent of the work of Christopher Coyne.
Christopher Coyne and Abigail Hall have previously highlighted the domestic consequences in “Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fate of U.S. Militarism”. The importation of war practices from foreign missions, including by war participants, would strengthen the police state and restrict civil liberties. Case studies show how social control practices that are hardly controlled abroad are being tested and imported. As a result, this not only leads to the militarization of the police and inappropriate surveillance by drones, but even to the use of torture. This boomerang effect expands the state sector, not least by stirring up fear while offering state security, which is accepted by citizens. (https://wirtschaftlichefreiheit.de/wordpress/?p=33505)
Wow, mind blowing. It's, of course, no surprise that the CIA has tendrils infiltrating everywhere - including right here at home. We more or less knew this all along. But it's a rare moment that we see it so fully exposed.
It makes one wonder "who's really been in control of our own government all this time?" and by extension "...and in control of >us<?"
It's an unsettling feeling, isn't it? Those are exactly the right questions to ask. What the book argues so powerfully is that the CIA rarely acted alone, it was often the secret tool that allowed the White House to operate without public scrutiny. It's less a rogue agency and more a symptom of a presidency that started acting like an empire.
I must confess this is the first time I've seen this expression. It reminds me of one of the CIA's more insidious tactics - recruiting civilians, including organized crime associates.
i have been reading about operation AJAX. Fascinating, i knew almost nothing about it. It feels like they were driven by the sense of adventure as much as anything else, which is obviously a dangerous thing when playing with geopolitics
Those stories are exactly what makes Wilford's book so compelling. He goes into great detail on Operation AJAX and its leader, Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt. Wilford points out that Roosevelt (whose nickname came from a Kipling spy novel) viewed the coup as a "romantic imperial adventure in the Kipling and Roosevelt family tradition". He even had a theme song for the operation: "Luck Be a Lady Tonight".
That sense of adventure is a huge part of Wilford's argument in the book. He shows how that inherited, romantic view of "empire" was a powerful, and, as you said, incredibly dangerous, motivator for many of these early CIA officers.
Very worth reading!
"Empire, Wilford powerfully argues, does not remain abroad. He frames the CIA as a boomerang institution, whose overseas tactics inevitably return to reshape the homeland." => This quote is reminiscent of the work of Christopher Coyne.
His 2022 Independent Institute book "In Search of Monsters to Destroy. The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace" critiques the idea and practice of American empire based on the "study of constraints and incentives facing imperialism, as well as a recognition of the negative, illiberal consequences of foreign interventions." (https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ordo-2023-2037/html?fbclid=IwAR1IpscxksT18T7h0lQqD26xfj9HriHyV5xg3LB9pZRoa2yGFA8wA8f6wkU)
Christopher Coyne and Abigail Hall have previously highlighted the domestic consequences in “Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fate of U.S. Militarism”. The importation of war practices from foreign missions, including by war participants, would strengthen the police state and restrict civil liberties. Case studies show how social control practices that are hardly controlled abroad are being tested and imported. As a result, this not only leads to the militarization of the police and inappropriate surveillance by drones, but even to the use of torture. This boomerang effect expands the state sector, not least by stirring up fear while offering state security, which is accepted by citizens. (https://wirtschaftlichefreiheit.de/wordpress/?p=33505)
Wow, mind blowing. It's, of course, no surprise that the CIA has tendrils infiltrating everywhere - including right here at home. We more or less knew this all along. But it's a rare moment that we see it so fully exposed.
It makes one wonder "who's really been in control of our own government all this time?" and by extension "...and in control of >us<?"
It's an unsettling feeling, isn't it? Those are exactly the right questions to ask. What the book argues so powerfully is that the CIA rarely acted alone, it was often the secret tool that allowed the White House to operate without public scrutiny. It's less a rogue agency and more a symptom of a presidency that started acting like an empire.
In other words, it's less a rogue agency and more a symptom of a rogue government. And that was before The Orange Scourge.
Dibber Dobbers everywhere...
I must confess this is the first time I've seen this expression. It reminds me of one of the CIA's more insidious tactics - recruiting civilians, including organized crime associates.
i have been reading about operation AJAX. Fascinating, i knew almost nothing about it. It feels like they were driven by the sense of adventure as much as anything else, which is obviously a dangerous thing when playing with geopolitics
Those stories are exactly what makes Wilford's book so compelling. He goes into great detail on Operation AJAX and its leader, Kermit "Kim" Roosevelt. Wilford points out that Roosevelt (whose nickname came from a Kipling spy novel) viewed the coup as a "romantic imperial adventure in the Kipling and Roosevelt family tradition". He even had a theme song for the operation: "Luck Be a Lady Tonight".
That sense of adventure is a huge part of Wilford's argument in the book. He shows how that inherited, romantic view of "empire" was a powerful, and, as you said, incredibly dangerous, motivator for many of these early CIA officers.
Like smoking a cigarette while playing with C4.