THE SOVIET AND COMMUNIST BLOC DEFAMATION CAMPAIGN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000500070009-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 20
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2003
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 1, 1965
• Content Type: REPORT

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September 1965
The Soviet and Communist Bloc Defamation Campaign
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.
Synopsis
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
2. CIA, in its intelligence role, is feared by the Soviets
for its responsibility and ability to penetrate and unmask
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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 of Soviet policy and a major objective of the Soviet
Intelligence Services 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 and 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 cooperating 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 General 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
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replay in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even in
the United States. CIA will continue to be the prime target o#
Soviet disinformation and defamation operations.
Soviet and Communist Disinformation
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
7 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? "Dezinformatsiya't,
in Soviet terminology, is false, incomplete or misleading infor-
mation 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.
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6. Soviet disinformation activity is planned and directed
by a specialized Department of the Soviet State Security Service.
This KGB. Department, which was created to intensify Soviet
disinformation activity, is headed by General Ivan Ivanovich
Agayants, a senior, professional intelligence officer with long..
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 Paques who was. sentenced
to life imprisonment on 7 July 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 r
planning of its work.
*It will be recalled that, Khru shchev, during his U. S. visit in
September 1959, engaged in more than one discussion at the
White House and during his tour designed to destroy confidence
in American intelligence. His statements and remarks made
during interviews, it is known, were prepared in advance in
consultation with the Department of Disinformation.
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8. Agayants' Department is staffed by an estimated forty
to fifty, geographical and functional specialists in Moscow alone;
.it avails itself directly and-peremptorily of the world-wide
resources, manpower, and operations,, of the Soviet security
apparatus. The purposes, 'broadly 'stated, of the Disinformation
Department are to:
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 break-up of the NATO alliance.
Sow distrust and create grounds for
subversion and revolt against the U.S.. in the
Western Hemisphere and among the new nations
of Africa and Asia.
These purposes and objectives, it must be emphasized, have
s
been established by the highest elements of Party and Govern-
ment'in the Soviet Union.'
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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's
.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 member
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 final version of the article.
This final version was then immediately sent back
to Moscow, this time through TASS channels.
*Ivan Mikhailovich Vozny, a KGB officer, was head of the
Political Intelligence Section at the Soviet Embassy in Rangoon,
Burma.
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"The last stage of this grandoise forgery
was under the special care. of the Soviet Infor-
mation 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. . . ~>>E
10. Although the KGB is able to fabricate in Moscow what-'
ever 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 disinfor-
mation 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 fifty-eight pages of CIA Over Asia, a slanderous
booklet published in Kanpur, India, in 1962, for example,
American newspapers and.magazines are cited eleven times,
.periodicals of other. Western or neutral countries fifteen times.
The fact that some references are made to Communist organs
is obscured by repeated citations from reputable American
publications.
*Alexander Kaznacheev, Inside a Soviet Embassy, (New York,
1962), pp. 172-3.
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1W W
12. A study of Soviet disinformation shows that the Soviets
are engaged in an impressive research project to collect and
process information and speculation about American intelligence
and security services that appears in Western publications and
newspapers. This study also has confirmed the deep interest
of the Soviet services in the development and. I'milking" of
Western journalists. Americans. figure prominently among
these.
13. The measure and, depth of Department 'iD is" activity
against the CIA may be judged from a single episode. A booklet
attacking the former DCI, Mr. Allen W. Dulles, entitled A Study
of a Master Spy (Allen Dulles), was printed and distributed in
London during 1961, and has since been reprinted. The ostensible
author was a prominent maverick Labor 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 KGB disinformation officer,
Colonel Vassily Sitnikov, and then served up for final polish
and printing in the United Kingdom.. Mr. Dulles himself
discussed this episode on a TV round-table on 29 March 1964:
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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. Hanson Baldwin: Well, that brings
"Mr. Dulles: Well,' I have here right in my
"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 here - you
see - A Study of a Master Spy. I won't give you the
names of the authors, but one of them is a member
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 has
been 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..
"Mr. Deryabin*: Sitnikov? I used to work
with Sitnikov 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 Counsellor 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 now.
*Peter Deryabin is a former KGB officer, now in the United
States. His personal memoir, The Secret World, (New York,
1959) is probably the most authoritative public account of KGB
organization and activity.
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"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. Allen Dulles and the appoint-
ment of Mr. John McCone necessitated a shift in the Communist
attack on 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. 1. Issued by the State Publishing
House for 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 US government, particularly in the
Cuban affair.
15. In Novembgr 1964, the Soviet newspaper Komsomol'ska a
Pravda published a further attack on Mr. McCone entitled, "The
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 were carried out with the participation of emissaries of the
adventures in.Lebanon, in Southeast Asia, Aden, and Brazil,
McCone, the CIA was transformed from just an invisible govern-
ment to a government of US oil-monopolies, mainly Standard Oil
and its owners, the Rockefeller group. All of the military
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Spy With the Slide Rule". Referring to Mr. McCone's activities
as Director of CIA, the article added, "Under the leadership of
.man with the slide rule. "
16. On 8 December 1964, Moscow domestic radio stated,
"The American newspaper New York Herald Tribune had reported.
"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
anti-Communism 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 Govern-
ment'*. . . There is a basis to suspect, White and
Ross write, that'frequently the foreign policy of the
*Reference is to the book by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross,
The Invisible Government, New York, Random House, 1964.
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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 Admiral William
F. Raborn on 11 April 1965 gave the Soviet press another
opportunity to review and renew its attack on the DCI. 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 14 April 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 U. S.
over accusations of interference in the internal affairs of newly
independent states in particular. Pt
19. -Krasnnaya Zvezda in Moscow asserted (18 April 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 in aiming its
aggressive blows." The article concluded, "The American
imperialists probably assume that Raborn will be a more
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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 5 June 1965, the Greek Communist newspaper ?Av hi,
in an article entitled, "U. S.'s Master Spy, William Raborn",
alleged that the appointment of Admiral Raborn was intended "to
lessen the enmity between the C. I. A. 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 form
of monopolist capital, the most reactionary force that leans toward
dangerous adventurism. At least that is what the events in Indo-
china, 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
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target audiences and individuals, particularly in the newly emerging
areas. The basic anti-CIA themes in use as of mid-summer 1965
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.
CIA engages in psychological warfare,
utilizing falsehoods to undermine the international
authority of the USSR.
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f. CIA is fighting the Co -=.r.nunist Party of the
USA and the Communist and Wcs car Parties of other
capitalist countries.
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 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
Times. published one article on CIA in 1961, and one in 1963.
*The articles were entitled "Imperialist Intelligence and Foreign
Policy" (March 1964), "CIA Intrigues in Latin America" (June
1964), "An Imperialist Spy Consortium" (September 1964), "U. S.
Intelligence and Foreign Policy" (October 1964), "U.S. Intelli-
gence and the Monopolies" (January 1965). There were short
references to -CIA in articles dealing with other topics in its
issues.of July and August 1965.
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Three articles concering CIA were published by this multi-
lingual 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 co-
author of a pamphlet, Cuba vs. CIA, published in 1961.
Joesten is revealed in a German Security Police memorandum,
dated 8 November 1937, to have been an active member of the
German Communist Party (KPD) since 12 May 1932; he was
issued Communist Party membership card (Mitgliedsbuch)
number 532315.
24. A primary aim of Soviet disinformation is to sow
distrust among the Western allies by discrediting the policies
*'.'American Cassandra" (January 22, 1964), "Soviet Gold" and
"The Espionage Jungle" (August 12, 1964). There have been two
pieces on CIA in the magazine to date in 1965.
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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 long-standing 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, 1964) and America's Un-
declared 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 two 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 in Iraq. This
campaign was allegedly based on an article in the French paper
L'Express which asserted that CIA was the "author of the Iraqi
murder". An article in the Ghana Evening News for February 28,
1963 was headlined "Neo-Colonalist Terror in Iraq Menacing
Threat Against Africa".' On May 15, 1965, 'the Spark, ' a weekly
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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-centre in America's Central Intelligence Agency,
known briefly as C. I. A. " Included in the article were eight
illustrations of "spy equipment". Four of these illustrations had
earlier appeared 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 twelve to eighteen 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 Komla 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 economic control of these
areas through foreign aid and economic exploitation.
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Soviet Forgeries
27, One of the preferred instruments utilized by the Soviets
to disseminate disinformation is the forged document. Detailed
testimony on thirty-two if. S'. forgeries attributable to the
Communist Bloc was given by Mr. Richard Helms of Cu on
2 June 1961 before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the United
States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Fourteen new instances
of forged Up S, official documents have come under scrutiny by the
end of July 1965, Some of the more recent examples are still
being studied. Although CIA has not been omitted from some of
these spurious documents,. the principal purpose of such forgeries
has been to discredit UQS,o policies and the representatives of
other 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 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 United States Government is a
potential target of the Disinformation Department when such
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attacks will 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 "Glavni .Vrag" ('"Main Enemy'"), the United States.
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