Operation Mockingbird, the NY Times and the Bay of Pigs

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Question for the conspiracy believers who think the CIA/government largely controlled (and still does) the media through Operation Mockingb ird.

How do you explain the below story? About 10 days before the invasion the NY Times ran a front page piece giving details about the plan. JFK had learned beforehand that they were going to run the story and called the NY Times and asked that it not be published. They refused. They did omit some details, reduced the story from four columns to the one below, and moved the story down but otherwise ran with it. JFK was furious.

So why didn't the CIA get the story stopped? Of all of the stories they would want to suppress this would be near the top. But they couldn't stop it? Why not? And I won't even start to mention all of the stories that exposed the CIA's abuses, the so-called "Family Jewels." If the CIA controlled the media how did *those* get published?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

I can add this story to the ever-growing list. Why didn't Operation Mockingbirdd stop this story?

[Charles Collins]

How about the newspaper stories regarding the Watergate cover up and the pentagon papers. Would these fit into the same discussion?

[Watson Phillips]

Question for the conspiracy believers who think the CIA/government largely controlled (and still does) the media through Operation Mockingb ird.

How do you explain the below story? About 10 days before the invasion the NY Times ran a front page piece giving details about the plan. JFK had learned beforehand that they were going to run the story and called the NY Times and asked that it not be published. They refused. They did omit some details, reduced the story from four columns to the one below, and moved the story down but otherwise ran with it. JFK was furious.

So why didn't the CIA get the story stopped? Of all of the stories they would want to suppress this would be near the top. But they couldn't stop it? Why not? And I won't even start to mention all of the stories that exposed the CIA's abuses, the so-called "Family Jewels." If the CIA controlled the media how did *those* get published?



Was there no government investigation as to how top secret military plans came to be had by the New York times ?
Journalists have been put in jail under such circumstances.
What did the Times say their purpose was in publishing information that would result in the deaths of people ?

[Jon Banks]

Question for the conspiracy believers who think the CIA/government largely controlled (and still does) the media through Operation Mockingb ird.

How do you explain the below story? About 10 days before the invasion the NY Times ran a front page piece giving details about the plan. JFK had learned beforehand that they were going to run the story and called the NY Times and asked that it not be published. They refused. They did omit some details, reduced the story from four columns to the one below, and moved the story down but otherwise ran with it. JFK was furious.

So why didn't the CIA get the story stopped? Of all of the stories they would want to suppress this would be near the top. But they couldn't stop it? Why not? And I won't even start to mention all of the stories that exposed the CIA's abuses, the so-called "Family Jewels." If the CIA controlled the media how did *those* get published?

What if the CIA was responsible for leaking that story via the NY Times? Are you familiar with the term "limited hangout"? Plus, the NY Times has a history of publishing "scoops" directly from CIA sources.

David Talbot, who wrote a book about the life of Allan Dulles, has speculated that the planners of the Bay of Pigs intended for the operation to fail. The objective of the failed operation was to pressure JFK to use direct military force against Cuba.

Given how poorly planned the operation was and how it was one of the worst kept secrets at that time, it seems plausible that the goal was not a successful operation but for the failure to be used as a pretext for US escalation. 

[Jon Banks]

How about the newspaper stories regarding the Watergate cover up and the pentagon papers. Would these fit into the same discussion?

The underlying issue in Watergate was the rivalry between the FBI and the CIA. Most of the Watergate burglars were reportedly CIA operatives. Also, Nixon tried to use the Kennedy assassination and other secrets to blackmail Richard Helms and the CIA.

So under that context, it makes sense that some national security insiders were leaking secrets to the Press.

[Tom Graves]

Nixon tried to use the Kennedy assassination and other secrets to blackmail Richard Helms and the CIA.

How do you know that?

Regardless, here's a factoid for you:

Nixon set up The Plumbers because a Kremlin-loyal triple agent at the FBI's NYC field office, KGB Major Aleksei Kulak (Hoover's shielded-from-CIA FEDORA), had told him that the Kremlin had a complete copy of the Pentagon Papers (it didn't).

[Jon Banks]

How do you know that?

I'm surprised they don't teach you about the Nixon tapes at Langley 

"The "Smoking Gun" tape revealed that Nixon instructed Haldeman to have the CIA pressure the FBI into dropping its Watergate investigation. Nixon instructed him to tell the CIA that the investigation would "open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again". In his book, Haldeman later wrote: "It seems that in all those references to the Bay of Pigs, he was actually referring to the Kennedy assassination." He also said that Nixon might have been reminding CIA Director Richard Helms that the CIA assassination attempts on Fidel Castro may have triggered the assassination of Kennedy.

The unexplained 18+1⁄2 minute gap in Nixon's Oval Office recordings occurred during a discussion that included the President and Haldeman on June 20, 1972."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._Haldeman

Nixon tried to use the stuff he knew about secret CIA operations to pressure Dick Helms to help him during the Watergate investigation.