RIP: Philip Agee, former CIA agent and US foreign policy critic

Snip from AP obit:

Former CIA agent Philip Agee, a critic of U.S. foreign policy who infuriated American intelligence officials by naming purported agency operatives in a 1975 book, has died, state media reported Wednesday. He was 72.

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly in Latin America at a time when leftist movements were gaining prominence and sympathizers. His 1975 book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," cited alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in the region and included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Link (via Ned Sublette)

[#1 posted by Takuan , January 9, 2008 10:37 AM]

"alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in the region" means: real atrocities against the entire civilian population

[#2 posted by Brian Carnell , January 9, 2008 12:32 PM]

Hmm...the same Philip Agee who once told Newsweek,

"I support the Cuban revolution for the same reasons that I quit the CIA. In my experience, the U.S. doesn't give a shit about free and fair elections, and nowhere in Latin America has the power of the oligarchs been eliminated."

Yeah, because if you're looking for free and fair elections, the Cuban revolution is certainly the place to start.

[#3 posted by Susan Oliver , January 9, 2008 5:00 PM]

included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Do we know what happened to these operatives and all of their contacts?

[#4 posted by Takuan , January 9, 2008 5:48 PM]

perhaps they were hunted down and murdered by the families of their victims

[#5 posted by Ray DelMundo , January 10, 2008 7:06 AM]

More like BIH: Phillip Agee.
Traitor.

[#6 posted by Brian Carnell , January 10, 2008 1:50 PM]

Also, Oleg Kalugin who used to head the KGB's counterintelligence org claimed that Agee approached the KGB in 1973 and offered to turn over a great deal of classified info to the KGB. Kalugin claims, however, that the Soviets distrusted Agee -- apparently thinking he was going to feed the misinformation -- and so didn't take up the offer.

A Cuban defector in 1992 claimed Agee was paid $1 million by Cuba. Agee had publicly thanked the Cuban Communist for its support while he was writing the book, but denied that he took any money from them.

Agee was apparently initially a dupe from the U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and then a dupe for the USSR/Cuban designs on the region.