Howard Willens, former staff attorney on the Warren Commission, remains one of its most vigorous public defenders 50-plus years later.
…‘I was naive to say the least:’ Q&A with Howard Willens of the Warren CommissionRead More »
Dear Jeff
I am currently reading Scorpion’s Dance and just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying it! Really interesting and can’t wait to finish. Starting Chapter 14 later tonight. Good stuff!! I need to order The Ghost next. I enjoy your writing and insight. Best, Ed
Here’s a deep dive on the CIA and Watergate in three parts: Christopher Moran talks about Richard Nixon’s evovling hostility to the CIA; I talk about Nixon and CIA director Richard Helms; and John Prados talks Helm’s successor, William Colby, and the fall out of Watergate affair.
…Sounded good. It just wasn’t true.
From Eve Ottenberg in Counterpunch
“Jefferson Morley’s Scorpion’s Dance, the President, the Spymaster and Watergate, details decades of CIA funny-business, and there was loads of it. Indeed, if you ever wonder how the world got to be such a mess and who’s responsible, read this book.
A friend writes: “I’m recommending a fantastic chat between Aaron Good and Jefferson Morley, two of the most cogent and relevant analysts of the Cold War’s domestic political legacy. It’s “about” Watergate, but it covers so much more than that. Take the time and have a deeper understanding of the break-in, the burglars,….
Listen here.
A former CIA military trainer gets real about one Agency operation to assassinate Fidel Castro.
Listen to the story: “The CIA had no involvement in the break-in,” said the duly sworn witness Richard Helms. “No involvement whatever.'”
…
Yes there is. If you like listening to your spy stories, you can pre-order it here.
Next month, the Spy Museum in Washington DC will host conversation about Scorpions Dance. I’ll be talking with with James Rosen, author of Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate.
An excerpt from my book:
“As told by the Washington Post, and the movie All the President’s Men, Watergate is the tale of a lawless and paranoid president brought to justice by an independent press. The reports of the Senate Watergate Committee and House Judiciary Committee wove narratives of impeachable offenses committed by a president who had abused his powers, both at home …
…You’re invited to the Spy Museum’s event on the CIA and WatergateRead More »
…..the dual lives and “clandestine collaborative relationship” between CIA director Richard Helms and PresidentRichard Nixon ….
Morley deftly showcases Helms’s struggle to determine what obligation, if any, required him to provide the intelligence secrets of a past president to that of a current one. Should an intelligence director divulge an agency’s past actions to satisfy a current president’s political inquiries?
“Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.” –Ford Madox Ford
Source: The Page 99 Test: Jefferson Morley’s “Scorpions’ Dance”
From my new piece in POLITICO:
an edgy conversation between Nixon and Helms eight months before the Watergate arrests confirms that Nixon did indeed have JFK’s assassination on his mind when he pressed Helms about the secrets of the Bay of Pigs.
Source: Nixon’s Plan to Threaten the CIA on JFK’s Assassination – POLITICO
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