THE SOVIET AND COMMUNIST BLOC DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400420010-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 12, 2004
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: September 28, 1965
• Content Type: OPEN

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of America
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On,grstionat
WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER 28, 1965
-THE SOVIET .AND CONfMIJNIST BLOC
DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN
SYNOPSIS
Congressman Melvin Price (D-I11. 23), now chairman of the
-louse Armed Services Committee put this report in the
congressional Record on September 28, 1965. He introduced it
is follows:
MR. PRICE. Mr. Speaker, a major program to defame and
discredit U.S. departments and agencies having responsibilities for
national security has been conducted by the Soviet and
Communist bloc since 1948. How it operates is explained in a
paper, "The Soviet and Communist Bloc Defamation Campaign,"
which I submit for printing in the RECORD. Main targets are the
Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
The paper follows:
1. The Soviet and Communist bloc effort to defame and
discredit U.S. departments and agencies that have major
responsibilities for national security has been underway since
1948. A major program is aimed at the Central Intelligence
Agency and has grown markedly in quantity and intensity since
the establishment of the KGB Department of Disinformation in
1959. This . program now produces between 350 and 400
derogatory items annually. Communist press and radio.' attacks
against the Agency reveal an Increased sophistication in recent
years. In addition, many Communist-inspired books and
pamphlets which attack the existence, purposes, and status of
CIA, and reflect a substantial budget for this activity, have
? appeared throughout southeast Asia, Africa, and the Near East.
2. CIA, in its intelligence role, is feared by the Soviets for its
responsibility. and ability to penetrate and unmask Communist
conspiracies against democratic institutions. By striking at CIA,
the attack also centers on the intelligence community with
particular thrust against the FBI and Mr. J. Edgar Hoover. The
objective of the overall program is to achieve the destruction,,
break-up, and neutralization of CIA. A basic requirement o#'
Soviet policy and a major objective of the Soviet intelligence
service is the destruction of effective security collaboration
among the non-Communist countries in order to carry out Soviet
long-term strategic plans for subversion, political upheavals,
popular fronts, d the eventual political isolation of the United
States.
3. Defamation and forgery operations are conceived, directed,
and perpetrated by a single organization located outside the
target areas which makes use of local Communist: or
pro-Communist propagandists and of all operating Communist
bloc intelligence and security services. Although such
undertakings are the products of the disinformation department
of the KGB, known as department D, which is headed by Gen.
Ivan Ivanovich Agayants, they are reviewed and passed on by the
Soviet leadership. The operations of the Soviet Disinformation
Department have been successful thus far in stimulating a wide
replay in Africa, southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even in the
United States. CIA will continue to be the prime target of Soviet
4. It is an established Soviet principle now embraced by all
members of the Communist bloc - that a large percentage of
subversive activity be devoted to the planning and conduct of
disinformation (dezinformatsiya) operations which mold, divide,
and mislead other governments or leaders and cause them to
adopt policies and undertakings which are ultimately
advantageous only to the Soviet Union. The Soviet leadership has
charged the Soviet State Security Service, the KGB, to place very
great emphasis, both organizationally and operationally, on
disinformation activity. Communist bloc. services, in turn, are
playing their part in this work.
5. What are disinformation operations? "Dezinform'atsiya,"in
Soviet terminology is false, incomplete, or misleading information
that is passed, fed, or confirmed to a targetted individual, group,;
or country. "Propaganda," as it is defined by free world students,
may be used as a support.. element of dezinformatsiya, but
propaganda per se lacks the precision and bite of disinformation.
6. Soviet disinformation activity is planned and directed by
specialized department of the Soviet State Security Service. This
KGB department, which was created to intensify Soviet
disinformation activity, is headed by Gen. Ivan Ivanovich
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Agayants, a senior, pro h m inte ligence o icer wit ong
experience and well-developed agent and political contacts in
Western Europe, especially in France. where he served under the
name Ivan Ivanovich Avalov. At one time In France he controlled
the French spy Georges Pasques who was sentenced to life
imprisonment on July 7. 1964.
7. The assignment of Agayants to take over the disinformation
task indicates the high priority that the then Chairman of the
Presidium, Nikita Khrushchev, gave to the campaign against
American leadership and activity. Chairman Kosygin and First
Secretary Brezhnev have made no changes in that program.
Department D is still directly tied Into the Presidium in the
planning of its work.
8. Agayants department is staffed by an estimated 40 to 50
geographical and functional specialists in Moscow alone; It avails
itself directly and peremptorily of the worldwide resources,
manpower and operations, of the Soviet security apparatus. The
purposes, broadly stated, of the disinformation department are
(a) Destroy the confidence of the Congress and the American
public in U.S. personnel and agencies engaged in anti-Communist
and cold war activity.
(b) Undermine American prestige and democratic Institutions
and denigrate American leadership with NATO governments and
other non-Communist countries, thereby contributing directly to
the breakup of the NATO alliance.
(c) Sow distrust and create grounds for subversion and revolt
against the United States in the Western Hemisphere and among
the new nations of Africa and Asia.
These purposes and objectives, it must be emphasized, have
been established by the highest elements of party and government
in the Soviet Union.
9. Personal experiences with this program have been described
by officers who have left the Soviet system and are now in the
United States. One of these - Alexander Kaznacheev, who served
in Burma as an information officer - described the program and
the process in a recent personal memoir:
"Articles were originated in KGB headquarters in Moscow -
for example, about alleged American support of the Indonesian
rebels, frequent American violations of Cambodia' sovereignty,
subversive activity of Japan in the region, etc. The articles were
received from Moscow on microfilm and reproduced as enlarged
photo-copies at the Embassy. It was my job to translate them
into English. Some other members of Vozny's group would then
arrange through local agents for the articles to. be placed in one of
the Burmese newspapers, usually pro-Communist-oriented. The
newspaper would translate the article into Burmese, make slight
changes in style, and sign it from "Our special correspondent in
Singapore," for instance. Upon publication of such an article, the
illegitimate creation of Soviet Intelligence receives an appearance
of legitimacy and becomes a sort of document.
"But the work was not yet finished. I then took the published
article and checked it against the original Russian text. I noted all
the changes and variations made by the newspaper, and wrote
down in Russian the fatal version of the article. This final version
was then immediately sent back to Moscow, this time through
Tass channels.
"The last stage of this grandiose forgery was under the special
care of the Soviet Information Bureau, Tass, Radio-Moscow, the
Soviet press, and Soviet diplomatic representatives abroad. It Is
their duty to see that the material is republished and distributed
in all countries of the region as if they were genuine documents
which had appeared In the Burmese press." -
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10. Althou the xs a e to acate in Moscow ;fiatevet
material is needed for its disinformation operations, it has been
making more and more use of material published in the West,
some of which had been planted there by earlier disinformation
activities. An examination of the books and articles cited in any
of the anti-CIA pamphlets reveals extensive use of Western source
material, often taken out of context. The most recent Soviet
articles on the Agency are exclusively "documented" from
Western books, articles, and newspapers.
11. In the 58 pages of "CIA Over Asia," a slanderous booklet
published in Kanpur, India, in 1962, for example, American
newspapers and magazines are cited 11 times, periodicals of other
Western or neutral countries 15 times. The fact that some
references are made to Communist organs is obscured by repeated
citations from reputable American publications.
12. A study of Soviet disinformation shows thatthe Soviets
are engaged in an Impressive research project to collect and
process information and speculation about American intelligence
and security services that appear in Western publications and
newspapers.. This study also has confirmed the deep interest of
the Soviet services In the development and milking of Western
journalists; Americans figure prominently among these. .
13. The measure and depth of department D's activity against
the CIA may be judged from a single episode. A booklet attacking
the former Director of Central Intelligence, Mr. Allen W. Dulles,,
entitled 'A Study of a Master Spy" (Allen Dulles), was printed
and distributed in London during 1961, and has since becn
reprinted. The ostensible author was a prominent maverick I.aboi- -
Member of Parliament, one Bob Edwards, who was supposedly
assisted in the effort by a British journalist. It is now known that
the manuscript was researched in Moscow by a senior KGD
disinformation officer, Col. Vassily Sitnikov, and then served up.
for final polish and printing in the United Kingdom. Mr. Duties
himself discussed this episode on a TV roundtable on March 29,
1964:
"MR. HANSON BALDWIN. Well, that brings up, too, doesn't
It, the question of disinformation? What kind of disinformation is
being distributed by the Soviets today? Can you explain this,
Allen? .. .
"MR. DULLES. Well, I have here right in my hand -
"MR. BALDWIN. And what is disinformation, anyway?
"MR. DULLES. Well, this is it. Here's 'A Study of a Master
Spy.' Here's a booklet that was written about me. Now, it bears
on the outside hers, you see, 'A Study of a Master Spy.' i won't
give you the names of the authors, but one of them Is a tnember-
-
of the legislature of a very great, friendly country. But the real
author of this - I am the 'master spy' -- I have found out
recently after certain research had bee-a done, that the real author
of this pamphlet is a Colonel Sitnikov, whom I believe you know,
or know of. He is the real author. -
"MIt. DERYABIN. Sitnikov? I used to work with Sitnikoti' in
Vienna when he was deputy chief of the Soviet spy force, and he
was the chief of an American desk, I mean, working against
Americans. He was trained as an intelligence officer. One time he .
was a spy chief in Berlin and Potsdam, another time he was in
Vienna. To my knowledge last time he was in Bonn as a counselor
to the Embassy, but I mentioned him in my book and in the
articles in Life in 1959, and it is my belief that he is at home
"MR.. DULLES. He has a whole dossier on me. I've read some-
things there about myself that even I didn't know."
CONTINUING ATTACK ON THE DCI
14. The resignation of Mr. Alien Dulles and the appointment
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Df Mr. John McCone necessitated a shift in the Communist attack
:)n the Director of Central Intelligence. The Soviet propaganda
transition from one Director of Central Intelligence to another
was accomplished by June 1963 with the publication of a
pamphlet entitled, "Spy No. I." Issued by the State Publishing
House of Political Literature in Moscow (June 1963), the
substance of the book is summarized on the title page:
"John Alex McCone is the Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency of the United States. Behind the exterior of a respectable
gentleman is hidden the seasoned spy, the organizer of dirty
political intrigues and criminal conspiracies.
"This pamphlet tells of the past of the chief of American
intelligence, of the methods by which he amassed his millions and
became the servant of the uncrowned kings of America, the
Rockefellers, and of the influence which McCone exerts on the
policies of the U.S. Government, particularly in the Cuban
affair."
15. In November 1964, the Soviet newspaper Komsomol'skaya
.Pravda published a further attack on Mr. McCone entitled, "Ibe
Spy With the Slide Rule." Referring to. Mr. McCone's activities as
Director of CIA, the article added, "Under the leadership of
McCone, the CIA was transformed from just an invisible
government to a government of U.S. oil monopolies, mainly
Standard Oil and its owners, the Rockefeller group. All of the.
military adventures in Lebanon, in southeast Asia, Aden, and
Brazil, were carried out with the participation of emissaries of the
man with the slide rule."
16. On December 8, 1964, Moscow domestic radio stated:
"The American newspaper New York Herald Tribune had
reported that:
"U.S. Central Intelligence Agency boss John McCone has
secretly approached President Johnson with a resignation
request ... the American press prefers for the moment not to
speak about the actual reason for McCone's resignation. The
reason for it consists, in the first instance, in the serious collapse
of American foreign policy, which, to a considerable degree, is
formulated on the data provided by the CIA. Basing its activity
on defense of the interests of the largest monopolistic groups .
based on the ideology of anticommunism and militarism, the CIA
is proving incapable of a more or less objective, correct appraisal
of the balance of power in the world arena. ... The American
journalists, David White (sic) and Thomas Ross, drawing attention
to the subversive activity of the CIA, just call it, `The Invisible
Government .... There is a basis to suspect,' White and Ross
write, `that frequently the foreign policy of the United States as
made public in the speeches of the State officials, acts in one
direction, while secretly, through "The Invisible Government,' it
acts in the opposite direction."
17. President Johnson's appointment of Adm. William F.
Raborn on April 11, 1965 gave the Soviet press another
opportunity to review and renew its attack on the Director of
Central Intelligence. Moscow domestic radio announced the next
day that the appointment signified "the further strengthening of
cooperation between the espionage apparatus and the military
and military industrial monopolies."
18. An editorial published on April 14, 1965 in the Tanzanian
newspaper, the Nationalist, which was replayed by the New China
News Agency, claimed that Admiral Raborn's 'appointment
implied an "attempt to save the face of the United States over
accusations of interference in the internal affairs of newly
independent states in particular.."
19. Krasnaya Zvezda in Moscow asserted (April 18, 1965) that
the departure of Mr. McCone and General Marshall S. Carter was
"connected with new failures in assessing those forces against
which American imperialism is aiming its aggressive blows." The
article concluded, "The American imperialists probably assume
that Raborn will be a more successful accomplice for them in the
struggle against the peoples of the socialist countries and other
freedom-loving peoples. These hopes are hardly justified,
however, since in our era the course of historical events is not
being determined by -the Raborns and not even by their Wall
Street bosses."
20. On June 5, 1965, the Greek Communist newspaper Avgh1,
in an article entitled, "U.S. Master Spy, William Raborn," alleged
that the appointment of Admiral Raborn was intended "to lessen
the enmity between the CIA and the Defense Department
Intelligence Service." The article continued, "The main reason is
the fact that.the key posts in the American. administration are
now being taken over by representatives of the top and overt
forms of monopolist capital, the most reactionary force that leans
toward dangerous adventurism. At least that is what the events hi
Indochina, Dominican Republic, Congo, and elsewhere show."
THE COMMUNIST CHARGES AGAINST CIA
21. The themes exploited by the campaign of the Communist
bloc against CIA, its Director, and its operations have remained.
generally the same since the beginning of the attack. Nevertheless,
slants. and replays have been constantly adjusted to changing
world and regional political developments and to the
vulnerabilities of target audiences and individuals, particularly in
the newly emerging areas. The basic anti-CIA themes in use as of
midsummer 1965 are:
(a) CIA is an instrument of American Imperialism. It is racist,
and a direct threat to national liberation movements. -
(b) In its work against national liberation movements, CIA
engages in espionage, economic and political subversion, sabotage,
assassination and terrorism; it trains and supports
counter-revolutionary forces.
(c) CIA is an instrument of American aggression and gathers
intelligence for aggressive plans against peace-loving socialist
states. Diplomats, tourists, and scientists are used by CIA for
these purposes.
(d) CIA dominates and generates American foreign policy
(e) CIA engages in psychological warfare, utilizing falsehoods
to undermine the international authority of the U.S.S.R.
(f) CIA is fighting the Communist Party of the U.S.A., and the
Communist and Worker Parties of other capitalist countries.
(g) CIA spies on the allies of the United States and overthrows
its henchmen who are unable to suppress national liberation
movements.
22. The increasing weight of the attack on CIA becomes
evident when an examination is made of the periodicals,
International Affairs, New Times, and Kommunist, all three of
which are issued in Moscow, the first two in English and other
languages. International Affairs carried one major article on
American intelligence in 1960,and another in 1962. Since March
1964, there have been five articles devoted to that theme. These
articles have alleged in general that intelligence controls U.S.
foreign policy and big business controls intelligence. The New
77mes published one article on CIA in 1961, and one in 1963.
Three articles concerning CIA were published by this
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multilingual magazine during 1964. In May 1965, Kommunist
published an article with the title, "The American Intelligence
Service Is a Weapon of Adventurism and Provocation."
23. The assassination of President Kennedy was the subject of
a book by Joachim Joesten entitled, "Oswald - Assassin or Fall
Guy?" (1964) published by Marzani and Munsell Publishers, inc.
of New York, in which Joesten states that there is no question in
his mind that Oswald was a minor CIA agent. Marzani, a known
Communist, was coauthor of a pamphlet, "Cuba Vs. CIA."
published in 1961. Joesten is revealed In a German Security
Police memorandum, dated November 8, 1937, to have been an
active member of the German Communist Party (KPD) since May
12, 1932; he was issued Communist Party membership card
(Mitgliedsbuch) No. 532315.
24. A primary aim of Soviet disinformation is to sow distrust
among the Western allies by discrediting the policies and motives
of the United States and American methods of implementing
those policies. Considerable attention is devoted to creating
apprehension, uncertainty, and antagonism toward the United
States among the uncommitted and underdeveloped nations.
Thus, the Soviets reiterate the longstanding Communist charge
that the United States is imperialistic and seeks world
domination. They continually emphasize the theme that CIA is a
major instrument in the execution of American policy. Two
pamphlets; "CIA Over Asia" (Kanpur, 1962) and "America's
Undeclared War" (Bombay, 1963), are dedicated to this theme.
25. An example of the use of the daily press and radio to
mount this line of attack occurred 2 years ago in Ghana.
Sufficient time has now passed to permit an evaluation of the
episode. In late February and March 1963, CIA was subjected to
an attack in the Ghana press and radio which attempted to tie the
Agency to the death of Premier Qassim of Iraq. This campaign
was allegedly based on an article in the French paper L'Express
which asserted that CIA was the "author of the Iraq murder." An
article in the Ghana Evening News for February In 1963 was
headlined "Neo-Colonist Terror in Iraq Menacing Threat Against
Africa." On May 15, 1965, the Spark, a weekly Ghanian
newspaper, carried a front page story with the headline "The
Secret War of CIA, The Killer at Your Door." According to the
article, "This murderous game, which goes by the
innocent-sounding name of "Intelligence', has its Western-world
nerve-center in America's Central Intelligence Agency, known
briefly as CIA." Included in the article were eight illustrations of
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"spy equipment." Four of these illustrations had earlier appeaied
In West Berlin - The Facts, an anti-CIA tract that was published
in Moscow in 1962. -
26. A major theme developed principally in the uncommitted
areas during the past 12 to 18 months has been the alleged
interference of the United States, and especially CIA, in the
internal affairs of other countries. Three recent pamphlets,
"American Intelligence - This is Your Enemy" (Cairo, April
1964), "The Truth About Komia Gbedemah" (Ghana, October
1964), and "Operation Boa Constrictor" (Colombo, 1964)
develop the idea that through its intelligence and aid agencies, the
United States is engaged in a conspiracy to dominate the Middle
East, Africa, and Asia. The conspiracy allegedly takes the form of
active efforts to overthrow anti-American governments and to
gain econgmlc control of these areas through foreign aid and
economic exploitation.
SOVIET FORGERIES
27. One of the preferred instruments utilized by the Soviets to-
disseminate disinformation is the forged document. Detailed
testimony on 32 U.S. forgeries attributable to the Communis'
bloc was given by Mr. Richard Helms of CIA on June 2, 1961,
before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the U.S. Sena?c.
Committee on the Judiciary. Fourteen new instances of forged
U.S. official documents have come under scrutiny by the cad of
July 1965. Some of the more recent examples are still being
studied. Although CIA has not been omitted from some of then
spurious documents, the principal purpose of such forgeries h:.
been to discredit U.S. policies and the representatives of otht
U.S. agencies overseas, such as the Department of State, USIA,
the Peace Corps, the Armed Forces of the United States and
American political leaders generally.
28. The Soviet defamation campaign, whatever may be its
targets, has but one objective. Defamation of the CIA is only an
aspect of a coherent, well-orchestrated effort to denigrate the-
United States and its policies before world opinion. Every
department and agency of the U.S. Government is a potential
target of the disinformation department when such attacks wilt
serve Soviet interests. Whatever may be. the immediate subject of
any single Soviet disinformation operation - CIA, the State
Department, the Peace Corps, or USIA, the ultimate objective is
to isolate and destroy what the KGB designates as "Gland Vrag"
("Main Enemy'), the United States. Wit..
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