CIA Website

The CIA website provides general information about the Agency. On the home page is the current Threat Level (Elevated). No specific section of the site is devoted to Lyndon Johnson or any President. However, the Center for the Study of Intelligence part of the site contains interesting articles about the Johnson era.

Searching for Lyndon Johnson, resulted in 23 documents. Tthe apparant purpose is to discuss CIA activities vis-a-vis the President. The general tenor of the articles I reviewed was that Johnson used the CIA as a tool to support his views. Johnson is not viewed favorably. For example one article states 'White House decisions to allow a coup and, later, to go big in Vietnam, were made with little regard for CIA Headquarters' efforts to inform or modify US policy'.

An article on the CIA and Johnson and Kennedy states that DCI McCone's honesty about the CIA view of the Vietnam war ' was to lead ultimately to a falling out between McCone and Johnson'.

One study claims Johnson used the Agency for his own purposes, that is to 'stimulate public support of the President's policies and programs in Vietnam. George Allen, a veteran military analyst at the CIA attended what the study calls White House gatherings on manipulation of domestic opinion' and termed those gatherings 'the most distastful and depressing meetings of my bureaucratic career'.

The same study claims the Agency received a request from Walter Rostow in 1967. Rostow was Johnson's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs, a position similar to the current National Security Advisor. Rostow asked CIA to provide information about positive developments in Vietnam.

Agency officials at first refused to prepare the study but the Director of Central Intelligence, Richard Helms, intervened and a study was sent to the White House 'with a cover note protesting the exercise and pointing out that this special, limited study was not a true picture of the war.' The study says Rostow removed the cover note and was 'finally able to give the President a "good news" study from the CIA.

This site has the potential to be fascinating since the CIA was a major participant in the Cold War.

The site is acceptable in appearance and functions well.

Links are listed for your convenience.

Go big: http://www.odci.gov/csi/books/vietnam/epis2.html
CIA: http://cia.gov/
Center for the Study of Intelligence"http://www.odci.gov/csi/books/vietnam/epis2.html
Coup: http://www.odci.gov/csi/books/vietnam/epis2.html
Positive Developments: http://www.odci.gov/csi/books/vietnam/epis3.html