James Jesus Angleton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids James Jesus Angleton |
|
|---|---|
Angleton c. 1960
|
|
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service | Central Intelligence Agency United States Army |
| Active | 1943–1947 (U.S. Army) 1947–1975 (CIA) |
| Rank | Counterintelligence (CI) Chief (1954–1975) |
| Operation(s) | Enigma Code Manhattan Project Operation CHAOS |
|
|
|
| Born | December 9, 1917 Boise, Idaho, United States |
| Died | May 11, 1987 (aged 69) Washington, D.C., United States |
| Buried | Morris Hill Cemetery 43°36′27″N 116°13′46″W / 43.60750°N 116.22944°W |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse |
Cicely Harriet d'Autremont
(m. 1943) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | |
James Jesus Angleton (December 9, 1917 – May 11, 1987) was a very important person in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He was the chief of counterintelligence from 1954 to 1974. Counterintelligence means protecting a country's secrets and finding out if other countries have spies trying to steal them.
Angleton was deeply involved in how the US handled people who claimed to be spies from the KGB (the Soviet Union's main security agency). He became convinced that there was a high-ranking "mole" (a secret spy) inside the CIA. He then started a big search to find this spy. People still debate if this search was helpful or if it caused a lot of problems.
Many people in the intelligence world respected Angleton. Richard Helms, a former head of the CIA, said Angleton was the most important counterintelligence figure in the non-communist world.
Contents
Early Life and Family
James Jesus Angleton was born on December 9, 1917, in Boise, Idaho. His father was in the U.S. Army and later worked for a company called National Cash Register (NCR). In the 1930s, his family moved to Milan, Italy, because his father bought the NCR business there.
Angleton went to school in England and then attended Yale University in the United States. He was interested in poetry and even edited a literary magazine called Furioso. He wrote letters to famous poets like Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. He also briefly studied law at Harvard University.
In July 1943, he married Cicely Harriet d'Autremont. They had three children. The family lived in Arlington, Virginia, until Angleton passed away in 1987.
World War II Service
During World War II, Angleton joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This was an American intelligence agency that came before the CIA. He worked in London and then became the head of the counterintelligence branch in Italy.
In Italy, Angleton was in charge of a special unit that used secret information from intercepted German radio messages. By the end of the war, he was the top counterintelligence officer for the OSS in Italy. He helped gather intelligence and worked to prevent communist parties from gaining power in Italy after the war.
CIA Career and Influence
After World War II, Angleton helped create the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1947. He quickly became an important leader there. By 1954, he was named the chief of the Counterintelligence Staff. This was a very powerful position that he held for many years.
Angleton was in charge of several key areas:
- Foreign Intelligence: He worked closely with Israel's intelligence agencies, like Mossad. This helped the US get information about the Soviet Union. For example, he helped get a secret speech by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1956.
- Counterintelligence: This was his main job. He tried to find and stop spies from the Soviet Union and other countries who might be working against the US.
- Domestic Intelligence: He also oversaw some activities within the United States, though this later became controversial.
Angleton believed that all spy agencies could be secretly infiltrated by enemies. He had seen this happen before, especially with the "Cambridge Five" – a group of British spies who were actually working for the Soviet Union. One of these spies, Kim Philby, was a friend of Angleton's. When Philby was found to be a Soviet spy, it made Angleton even more suspicious.
Searching for Moles
Angleton's main focus was finding "moles" within the CIA. These were secret agents working for the Soviet Union. This search led to a lot of tension and debate within the CIA.
Two Soviet defectors (people who left their country to join another) caused a lot of discussion: Anatoliy Golitsyn and Yuri Nosenko.
- Anatoliy Golitsyn: He claimed that the KGB (Soviet intelligence) had already placed a high-level spy inside the CIA. Angleton believed Golitsyn's warnings.
- Yuri Nosenko: He defected later and claimed that Golitsyn was actually a fake defector sent by the KGB. Nosenko also said he had information about Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Nosenko's story was questioned, and he was held in isolation for a few years while the CIA tried to figure out if he was telling the truth.
Angleton became more and more convinced that the CIA was deeply infiltrated by the KGB. This led to conflicts with other parts of the CIA. He even suspected that important US officials might be under KGB influence.
During the Vietnam War, Angleton's team started a project called Operation CHAOS. This project looked for foreign support for anti-war and civil rights groups in the US. They did not find evidence of widespread foreign funding.
Later Career and Resignation
Angleton's strong suspicions and methods caused problems within the CIA. The new head of the CIA, William Colby, started to reduce Angleton's power.
In 1974, a newspaper story revealed that Angleton's team had been involved in spying on American citizens. This led to public investigations. Angleton resigned from the CIA on Christmas Eve of 1974. He said his "usefulness had ended." Many of his senior team members also left.
Even after his resignation, Angleton was quietly rehired by the CIA as a contractor for a short time. In 1975, he received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, a high honor from the CIA.
Death and Legacy
James Angleton died from cancer on May 11, 1987, in Washington D.C.
Angleton's time in the CIA had a lasting impact. Some people believe his intense search for moles made the CIA too cautious and led to problems later on. Others argue that his warnings were correct, pointing to later spies like Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen who worked for the Soviet Union inside US intelligence agencies.
After Angleton left, the CIA faced many challenges. There were investigations into its activities, and it had to make many changes. Angleton's legacy remains a topic of debate, with some seeing him as a brilliant but overly suspicious spymaster.
CIA Family Jewels
In 2007, a collection of secret CIA documents called the "Family Jewels" was made public. These documents showed how much power Angleton had. They confirmed that he was in charge of domestic spying activities under Operation CHAOS. They also showed that Angleton planned to infiltrate law enforcement and military groups in other countries to increase US influence.
See also
- Anti-communism
- David Blee
- Aleksander Kopatzky
- Joseph McCarthy
- Martel affair
- Sasha (espionage)
- Jim Skardon
- Spymaster
