The Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) reviewed an appeal regarding the declassification of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) internal history “Hearts and Minds: Three Case Studies of the CIA’s Covert Support of American Anti-Communist Groups in the Cold War 1949 – 1967,” by Michael Warner. The ISCAP decided to declassify additional information in the appeal.
American Presidents from Harry S.Truman to Lyndon B. Johnson approved CIA programs to grow and strengthen anti-communist organizations in the U.S. and abroad. The U.S. government secretly created and penetrated private organizations to stem communist expansion and influence foreign peoples and governments by making emotional and intellectual appeals to sway supporters.The private organizations included the National Student Association (NSA), the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), and the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME). The 1999 history, published by the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, is a study of these three covert action projects led by the CIA’s Office of Policy Coordination and successor organizations during the early Cold War. The 252 pages of this document can be found on the ISCAP appeals log: https://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2014-090