“It is inconceivable that a secret intelligence arm of the government has to comply with all the overt orders of the government.”


Known as the “godfather of mass surveillance”, Angleton got his start in the spy business with the OSS during World War II. However before that, his father bought a business and relocated the family to Milan. As a young man he developed a love of poetry and British culture – which he felt superior to American. He also developed an appreciation for the efficiency of fascism. He did not care for the slaughter that usually came along with it.

He spent much of his time working in Italy with some time in London. Immediately after the war he was assigned to Italy. During this time he helped Soviet defectors coming to the west and, perhaps more significantly, making connections with Mafia figures as they had been helpful to Americans in the war effort.

A short time later as the CIA was created to replace the wartime OSS, he easily moved into the new organization. His early fascination with fascism eased his relationships with Nazis brought in to help with the cold war through Operation Paperclip.

After much lobbying for the post, in 1954 President Eisenhower created the counterintelligence division. He had a tendency to believe information that aligned with his view of the world and circumstances. This led him to a couple of missteps in dealing with foreign agents.

He was one of the last people supporting British agent Kim Philby who was actually working for the Russians – which was obvious to most everyone else. He also spent time interviewing Anatoliy Golitsyn who he felt was one of the most valuable defectors from the Soviet Union. As a result several active, loyal agents had their careers severely damaged.

Around the middle of the 50's and the height of the cold war Angleton began the process of checking up on the activities of American citizens who either sent correspondence to the Soviet Union or received correspondence from there. This was clearly outside the scope of CIA activities as domestic investigation was the province of the FBI. The illegality of the action did not bring it to an end as it exploded into all sorts of domestic surveillance.

This led to agent Rueben Efron reviewing the correspondence of Lee Oswald. For some reason, Angleton who hoarded information like some people hoard old newspapers did not keep this information in a standard “201” file, but with a non-standard designation making almost impossible to locate. This information was developed and held by the Counterintelligence Special Investigations Group. The purpose of this group was primarily for keeping an eye on CIA employee who may prove to be troublesome.

He did this so anyone looking for this information would have to go through him and he would know who was looking. This could be because Oswald was on the government payroll for $200 a month according to Waggoner Carr, a Democrat member of the Texas House.

A dyed in the wool spook, he began running CIA based assassination operations often working to remove leaders whose actions ran counter to American in interests as interpreted by himself and CIA Director Allen Dulles.

Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro was a particular thorn in the side of the CIA and the likes of black sorcerer Sydney Gotlieb was called upon to formulate various poisons to take him out, including treating some of his favorite cigars, etc. However none could be adequately delivered. This led to his involvement in the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Angleton was certain the Cuban people would rise up and overwhelm the oppressive government when confronted by an attack that would stun and incapacitate the regime.

Again his judgment failed him as he underestimated the willingness of the people to fight for their own freedom and the power of the invasion. This failure was part of the reason President Kennedy was heading toward the dissolution of the CIA and the abandonment of the efforts in Vietnam. Kennedy's failure to support the invasion did nothing to endear him to the agency and the die was cast,

One of the requirements of a successful operation is the perpetrators covering their tracks so it cannot be traced to them and their motivations discovered. When Mary Meyer, the ex-wife of a CIA agent, was killed, word was out the she had done some snooping around the murder of the president. Having been one of his lovers she didn't accept the official story many thought her diary would cause concern to the intelligence community – and it did.

When her friends showed up at her home the next day, Angleton was already there digging around for the book... which was not to be found. Eventually it did turn up and the book was given to Angleton to review. He found nothing of consequence and returned it to the family, but he had, at least, found it evidence embarrassing to the CIA or any other branch of government.

During the 1970s, Angleton ran Operation CHAOS with the goal of creating dissension in the ranks of anti-war demonstrations and organizations of young blacks by spreading false information within these groups. Sometimes they were so effective that they ended killing each other. When these actions came to public scrutiny, FBI Director William Colby requested his resignation. He talked to reporters as seen in the first video clip. However he was immediately brought on as a consultant at his old salary. At least it looked good.

As he neared the end of his life he began reconsidering some of the things he had done. Raised as a Catholic, at the time he believed in the righteousness of his actions. However, later he mused about many of his colleagues, “If you were in a room with them, you were in a room full of people that you had to believe would deservedly end up in hell.” And he added, “I guess I will see them there soon.”

The Ghost: The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
by Jefferson Morley

CIA spymaster James Jesus Angleton was one of the most powerful unelected officials in the United States government in the mid-20th century, a ghost of American power. From World War II to the Cold War, Angleton operated beyond the view of the public, Congress, and even the president. He unwittingly shared intelligence secrets with Soviet spy Kim Philby, a member of the notorious Cambridge spy ring. He launched mass surveillance by opening the mail of hundreds of thousands of Americans. He abetted a scheme to aid Israel’s own nuclear efforts, disregarding U.S. security. He committed perjury and obstructed the JFK assassination investigation. He oversaw a massive spying operation on the antiwar and black nationalist movements and he initiated an obsessive search for communist moles that nearly destroyed the Agency.

In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton’s dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency’s MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew. Yet during his seemingly lawless reign in the CIA, he also proved himself to be a formidable adversary to our nation’s enemies, acquiring a mythic stature within the CIA that continues to this day.

Spies and Traitors: Kim Philby, James Angleton and the Friendship and Betrayal that Would Shape MI6, the CIA and the Cold War
by Michael Holzman

Kim Philby's life and career has inspired an entire literary genre: the spy novel of betrayal. Philby was one of the leaders of the British counter-intelligence efforts, first against the Nazis, then against the Soviet Union. He was also the KGB's most valuable double-agent, so highly regarded that his image is on the postage stamps of the Russian Federation even today.

Before he was exposed, Philby was the mentor of James Jesus Angleton, one of the central figures in the early years of the CIA who became the long-serving chief of the counter-intelligence staff of the Agency.

James Angleton and Kim Philby were friends for six years, or so Angleton thought. Then they were enemies for the rest of their lives. This is the story of their intertwined careers and a betrayal that would have dramatic and irrevocable effects on the Cold War and US-Soviet relations, and have a direct effect on the shape and culture of the CIA in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Wall Of Secrecy - Inside The JFK Assassination: - How James Angleton & William Harvey Set Up An Assassination Team Inside The CIA

by Ralph Thomas

This new material recovers evidence found in the 2017 and 2018 JFK records releases that show that both James Angleton and William Harvey set up a covert assassination operation inside the CIA. The material tends to show that this executive action team went on to engage in what Lyndon Johnson termed a “Murder Inc. inside the CIA. There is strong evidence that now indicates that this covert operation assassinated John F. Kennedy on November 22,1963 and that Lee Harvey Oswald had been set up as the patsy. Angleton created a wall of secrecy in a elaborate wilderness of mirrors that hide the operation for decades that had been constructed in a way that created it’s own confusion when anyone attempted to unravel the truth. Angleton had managed to hide the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from both the Warren Commission in the 1960’s and the House Select Committee On Assassination the 1970’s. It had not been until the Assassination Records Review Board in the 1990s uncovered additional files that the pieces of this puzzle emerged and started to be put together. While some LEE HARVEY OSWALD records appear to now be missing that had been reviewed once before in the 1970s and other records are still withheld, the 2017 and 2018 records releases shed even more light on these assassination operations.

The evidence as we know it today tends to indicate that various people involved who had been in Dallas, Texas on or around the date of the assassination may have had an understanding that the operation might have been either a fake assassination attempt of the President or had been part of an abort team set up to stop an assassination. The evidence shows that these various covert operations and various people involved had been hidden inside other operations within the CIA. Some of these operations had been hidden behind a wall of secrecy inside the CIA itself that only Angleton and a few other people actually knew about. The evidence also tends to show that various groups and individuals may have also been set up to become a secondary patsy should Lee Harvey Oswald as the patsy not pan out in the actual operation.