On September 18th 1947, the main provisions of the National Security Act of 1947 went into effect. One of these was the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency, perhaps the most infamous part of the US national security state. While we pay a lot of attention these days to digital surveillance and the agencies that focus on signals intelligence like the National Security Agency and National Reconnaissance office, the CIA has and continues to play a crucial role in establishing and maintaining global US hegemony via human intelligence as well as through its covert actions, including coups, terrorism and sabotage.

Now, with that global hegemony being challenged in every hemisphere as well as with significant internal political turmoil in the United States, with significant populations on many sides of the political spectrum not trusting the so-called democratic institutions that maintain that supremacy, monitoring and exposing the CIA and all three-letter agencies is as important as ever.

We are joined for this episode by two fellow members of the CovertAction Magazine Editorial Board. Lou Wolf is a co-founder of CovertAction. John Kiriakou is a former CIA analyst and whistleblower who exposed the CIA’s torture program.

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