In 1975 these revelations were new and shocking; for many readers it was the first hint that American foreign policy was not quite what their high-school textbooks had told them nor what the New York Times had reported.
"As complete an account of spy work as is likely to be published anywhere, an authentic account of how an ordinary American or British 'case officer' operates ... All of it ... presented with deadly accuracy," wrote Miles Copeland, a former CIA station chief, and ardent foe of Agee. (There's no former CIA officer more hated by members of the intelligence establishment than Agee; no one's even close; due in part to his traveling to Cuba and having long-term contact with Cuban intelligence.)
In contrast to Agee, WikiLeaks withheld the names of hundreds of informants from the nearly 400,000 Iraq war documents it released.
In 1969, Agee resigned from the CIA (and colleagues who "long ago ceased to believe in what they are doing").
While on the run from the CIA as he was writing Inside the Company -- at times literally running for his life -- Agee was expelled from, or refused admittance to, Italy, Britain, France, West Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway. (West Germany eventually gave him asylum because his wife was a leading ballerina in the country.) Agee's account of his period on the run can be found detailed in his book On the Run (1987). It's an exciting read.
Notes
1. To read about my State Department and other adventures, see my book West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold war Memoir (2002)
2. See Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, chapter 21, for the notes for the above.
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