CIA And FBI Spied On Americans And Immigrant Refugees As Early As The Late ’50s -- Richard Rashke, Daily Beast
Since the early days of the Cold War, the FBI and CIA have bent the law to spy on American citizens, starting with Eastern European refugees who had sought sanctuary in this country, writes Richard Rashke.
The National Security Agency isn’t the only intelligence group that has collected data on Americans and hidden the truth from the public. The FBI and CIA engaged in the same strategy following World War II. In each instance, the government bent the law or secretly enacted dubious legislation to make the snooping appear legal.
Soon after World War II ended, the Department of State recognized that there was a huge, untapped pool of Eastern European refugees. Harnessing them to fight the communists they hated was the brainchild of Frank Wisner, a former Wall Street lawyer turned Office of Strategic Services spy and the State Department’s expert on European war refugees. In a secret February 1948 policy paper, Wisner and his study group recommended that the National Security Council sanction the “systematic” use of such refugees. The NSC took Wisner’s advice.
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My Comment: Using this pool of refugees for intelligence purposes was very smart. These people spoke the language, understand the culture, and harbored deep resentment towards (at that time) communist regimes. Considering the "atmosphere" of the time, the fact that they were also watched and spied upon should not have surprised anyone.
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