(1983) CIA officer Ralph McGehee "The CIA is NOT an intelligence agency. It is a COVERT OPERATIONS agency"

The CIA is the Largest Criminal Organization in the World.
The CIA is not your friend.
The CIA is not a friend of the United States.
The CIA is a friend of power, and power alone.

CIA officer Ralph McGehee - explained the American way of working back in 1983: The CIA is not an intelligence agency. It is a covert operations agency. Operations like overthrowing or supporting foreign governments. Another part of covert operations is disinformation. And the American people, in my estimation, are the primary target audience for the agency's disinformation operations.

[Why does the CIA do this? What is the CIA's purpose in spreading disinformation? Why do they doctor the press?] One of the functions of the agency, as the Church Committee notes, is to create an international anti-Communist ideology.

The reason you want to create this international anti-Chekist ideology is because when you go to Nicaragua and you want to overthrow the government of that country, you're going to have to do it. You can't justify the American people going there and overthrowing that government unless you can tie it to a greater threat. It's just a small, insignificant country. But if you can link him to a more serious threat, then you justify overthrowing him.