Digital National Security Archive (DNSA): CIA Covert Operations, Part IV: The Eisenhower Years, 1953-1961

The bread and butter of U.S. intelligence operations, where they did not concern espionage, has traditionally been in covert operations. CIA Covert Operations, Part III: From Kennedy to Nixon, 1961-1974 covered the eras of presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford from 1961 through 1974, before the Year of Intelligence in 1975, which is covered in CIA Covert Operations II: The Year of Intelligence, 1975. The Archive's first installment in the series, CIA Covert Operations: From Carter to Obama, 1977-2010, covered the most recent era in American intelligence history.

CIA Covert Operations, Part IV: The Eisenhower Years, 1953-1961 documents the even more active years of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, although it also contains important overlaps with Harry S Truman's record. 

Some specific covert operations overlap presidencies. The National Security Archives have had to make choices on inclusion or exclusion accordingly. CIA Covert Operations IV concentrates on some of the best-known intelligence operations. Previous operations held back for inclusion in this collection include the treatment of Tibet (1956-1967) because it was most active during the Eisenhower period. Conversely, the Congo (1960-1968) operation has been held back from this offering to be included as a separate collection at a later date even though it began under Eisenhower. 

In the case of the Dominican Republic (1960-1961), the bulk of records appear in CIA Covert Operations III collection because agency activity peaked during John Kennedy's administration; but some pertinent documents have been included here.

Among the earliest CIA operations against a country was the one mounted in conjunction with British MI-6 against Albania. This began under Harry S. Truman and continued into the Eisenhower era. There are about 140 documents on the Albania operation in this collection.

One of the best-known CIA covert operations took place in Guatemala in 1954, overthrowing the government of President Jacobo Arbenz. This episode also overlaps the presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower. For that reason, and to get the material out more quickly to the public, the National Security Archive has included several hundred documents on this operation in this collection.

Another overlapping operation presented here is the joint CIA-MI6 undertaking in Iran in 1953, supporting a coup against the legal government. 
Among other overlap operations is the war in Korea, which began in June 1950 and ended, effectively, half a year into the Eisenhower administration. Included in this collection are nearly ninety documents pertaining to intelligence in Korea, though they mostly represent reporting intelligence rather than straight covert operations.

Eisenhower often escapes scrutiny for his part in rolling the dice against Castro at the start of the 1960s. This collection features more than a hundred documents on clandestine activities against Cuba from the Eisenhower period.

There are other instances where the National Security Archives have chosen to present separately materials on a given subject that occur in the different historical periods. This enables a greater volume of papers to be provided. In this collection, subjects on which we hold material for later sets include political action (Italy-France), Germany, the Soviet Union, and propaganda and "the Radios" (where we have also included material in Part III).
Among topics that are excluced from this collection are Vietnam and the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping that ran in parallel with CIA domestic spying. The Southeast Asian war ended in 1975 and it involved covert operations along with many other activities. In the former case, the sheer quantity of material makes it worth compiling a document set specifically focused on that war (forthcoming Part V).

The extraordinary breadth of materials, both in CIA Covert Operations IV and in the full array of sets in the series, obtained by acknowledged experts in their fields and curated by award-winning intelligence authority John Prados, have the potential to revolutionize the study of U.S. intelligence covert operations.