Academia And The ICCAE
David Price, writing for "Counterpunch," reveals a huge and horrifying new addition to our sorrowful list of crimes against freedom. In "How The CIA Welcomes Itself Back To American University Campuses: Silent Coup,"[link] he informs us that for the past five years, the CIA, under the names of the "Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence," and its dark affiliate, the "Intelligence in Advance Research Project Activity" (the jerks should be prosecuted just for the horrors they inflict on the language) have been infiltrating college campuses.
After I read a snippet about this, I e-mailed Mr. Price asking for a list of the institutions that accepted this depravity. He promptly sent back his full article, which includes:
"In 2005, the first ICCAE centers were installed at ten campuses: California
State University San Bernardino, Clark Atlanta University, Florida International
University, Norfolk State University, Tennessee State University, Trinity
Washington University, University of Texas El Paso, University of Texas-Pan
American, University of Washington, and Wayne State University.
Between 2008-2010, a second wave of expansion brought ICCAE programs to another twelve campuses: Carnegie Mellon, Clemson, North Carolina A&T State, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Florida A&M, Miles College, University of Maryland,
College Park, University of Nebraska, University of New Mexico, Pennsylvania
State University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute."
Price deplores what seems to be the indifference of the academic community: "...the silence surrounding this quiet installation and spread of programs like ICCAE is extraordinary. In the last four years, ICCAE has gone further in bringing government intelligence organizations openly to American university campuses than any previous intelligence initiative since WW II. Yet, the program spreads with little public notice, media coverage, or coordinated resistance."
Oh, damn. As a long time (27 years) employee at Rider University (also an alum), I feel such a sense of heavy darkness at this revelation. We learned long ago not to trust our elected representatives around a glass corner, that the mass media are ass-kissing slaves of the pols, and that churches can be as much a force for evil as good. I thought--fool that I am--that a tiny corner of idealism was still alive in Academia. Okay, I was wrong, and maybe there just isn't any hope anywhere.
Unless...unless...a viable third party can be born. God knows the other two are slouching toward Bethlehem in tandem.
Posted by Mimi at 6:33 AM
Labels: Academia And The ICCAE
posted by Mimi @ 5:07 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Price deplores what seems to be the indifference of the academic community: "...the silence surrounding this quiet installation and spread of programs like ICCAE is extraordinary.
Americans are indifferent to a lot of things except when it directly concerns them. Also Amercians have been trained to accept authority without question, a prime ingredient for any military state.
Hi Mimi, it's good to see you posting here again. Interestingly I was going to post something about the 3rd party question today, but I'll wait a bit to see if there's any discussion about this.
As far as the academic community being indifferent, I suspect it's also a combination of greed and fear, both economically driven.
Many schools lost a lot of money in the market in the last 2-3 years, seeing their endowments shrink quite a bit. One imagines that makes federal dollars in exchange for the CIA setting up shop look pretty good.
And, Stanford University has been the home of the Hoover Institute for as long as I can remember. The Hoover Institute helped promote the Iraq War under BushII and members include people like Condi Rice and other Bush acolytes. Bush himself went to Yale and Harvard if you can believe that. Of course Yale and Harvard are the stomping grounds for the wealthy and it’s not hard to imagine that there has always been relationships between these types of places which produce presidents who once enter office have the CIA as their private army. I think it’s quite natural that the universities would accept the CIA with open and welcoming arms because it’s part of their sick and twisted mentality already. I mean Stanford University has no qualms at all regarding Rice who is now teaching there. It’s all one big club and Americans are trained to be subservient to the rich and the powerful, part of our culture.
Here's a CIA document from 1968 about coopting academia:
http://www.namebase.org/foia/ac01.html
And, after all, from its founding the CIA would recruit on college campuses, Yale being their favorite.
When during the OJ Simpson trial the son of an ex-CIA Director happened to testify against him my ears perked up. And when it turned out that the school at the U. of Rochester, where the CIA trained agents in forgery, was the unit that "verified" the photos of Simpson's Bruno Maglis, I really got suspicious.
The CIA is where industrialists and the military of the oligarchy meet. On one level the CIA is the coal and iron police of the ruling class, breaking up egalitarian movements overseas. But it does the same thing here, whether infiltrating movements (to include student movements) or absorbing institutions for the betterment of the elite.
If you haven't read it, Christopher Simpson's SCIENCE OF COERCION, about the growth of Cold War propaganda and its allies in the media, academia et al is a great way to understand the ground floor of this phenomenon.
But this is a NEW setup, according to Price. See the whole article in "Counterpunch." Also, elite instiutiions may have harbored reactionary organizations before, but there was often strong vocal opposition from faculty and students. Where is it now?
Hi Mimi, I added a link in your essay, to Amy Goodman's discussion of Price's article at Democracy Now. Apparently the Counterpunch article is considered premium content and behind the paywall.
Thanks, Jon, that adds to the topic. But remember I'm an ignoramous: what does "beyond the paywall" mean?
It means it's subscription only.
Post a Comment
<< Home