Guest Post, by Shepherd Johnson
I've read 'Cryptos Conundrum', it makes L. Ron Hubbard look like Hemingway, it really is that bad. The book glorifies the CIA. It's very tedious. Chase Brandon goes into a history of the CIA against a backdrop of alien visitation with some ...New Age theosophy thrown in. He also crams just about every conspiracy theory he can think of into the book, JFK assassination, Loch Ness Monster, the mystery of how the pyramids were built, etc. The book is clearly a public relations effort used to promote the CIA while exploiting the popularity of UFOs and aliens.
This is the first time the CIA has overtly expanded into using literature as a propaganda tool. Note that I said "overtly". Of course the CIA has acknowledged that they have cooperated with some movie productions, but this is the first time for a book. On the first page there is a disclaimer saying that the book was submitted to the CIA's review board so no classified information was leaked to the public. The CIA often does this when former employees write books, but in this instance, this is clearly a ploy to make the book more mysterious. Of course the CIA probably did review the book, but this is what is known as a limited hang out. Which is essentially hiding the truth in a wrapper of lies.
Of course there is no classified information leaked in the book, but the CIA and Brandon want people to think that there is a possibility that there could have been. It is interesting that Brandon chose Coast to Coast to launch his book promotion. So that says that the target audience is the conspiracy/UFO community. Chase Brandon was the CIA's Hollywood liaison officer. That meant that when a TV/movie production company wanted to shoot a scene in the lobby of CIA HQ they had to go through him and if a production company wanted CIA cooperation in return the CIA expected input into the script, production, etc. I'm willing to bet that this book has already been optioned for a movie, probably before the ink was dry on the last chapter. Chase Brandon is a CIA propagandist, any foray that such a person might take into the public sphere should always be looked at with suspicion.
4 comments:
While I do not know about Chase Brandon (sounds like pseudonym) to depict this as "the first time the CIA has overtly expanded into using literature as a propaganda tool." may be a bridge too far.
Having had a longtime interest in military aircraft, I well remember the widely publicized defection of Viktor Belenko in September 1976. Not only was this a big cold-war embarrassment for the Soviet Union, Belenko also landed one of the (then) latest bits of aviation technology in Japan, a Mig-25. It was the fastest jet in Russia's inventory at the time. The Russians immediately demanded its return.
They got their plane back, after we had completely disassembled it and returned it to them in 30 crates! My ongoing interest in the story inspired me to buy Belenko's book "Mig Pilot" to help fill in the blanks of the story. I needn't have bothered. It was the worst piece of propagandistic tripe I have ever read.
To think the US accused the Soviet's of brainwash and then to release this unvarnished piece of manipulative swill really told me what our government was all about. I am quite sure Belenko's book was only one example of many such brainwash tools foisted on an unsuspecting public. Just sayin'.....
Mike, did the CIA have a disclaimer in the book stating that the book had been reviewed for purposes of determining if the book had divulged CIA sources and methods? 'The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence' by Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks had a similar disclaimer but theirs was submitted for review reluctantly, not in full cooperation with the CIA as is almost certainly the case with Chase Brandon's book.
-Shepherd Johnson
Shepherd,
The CIA did not need a disclaimer for Belenko's book, since he was not in the CIA. I do not know who was involved in the ghost writing and publishing of his book, but the CIA would probably be suspect number one since this kind of international counterespionage is right up their alley.
So, perhaps the word "overt" does not apply in this case. However, even a child could see through the glaringly transparent propaganda motives inherent in the story told by the book. So the whole thing seemed pretty overt to me.
I see that "Chase Brandon" is getting his share of raspberries from the UFO community at any rate. Credibility is not a word that comes to mind when seeing how his unsubstantiated tale plays right into the shilling of his new book. Might have to get some hip-waders for this one. Or just avoid the reading it altogether.....
Thanks to all for the review and subsequent comments. The subject matter is indeed relevant.
My personal opinion, in short, is that it is absolutely absurd to count on intel personnel for credible information. There is virtually no other demographic in which we should be as demanding about requiring verifiable evidence in order to accept their claims. It's rather ridiculous, actually.
Following are links to some currently unclassified docs that some people might find helpful in further clarifying issues surrounding the CIA Publication Review Board and non-disclosure laws:
http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/prb-handbook.pdf
http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/prb2007.pdf
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