James Jesus Angleton

James Angleton

James Jesus Angleton, (1917-1987) was head of CIA counterintelligence for more than 20 years.

Background

James Jesus Angleton was born in Boise, Idaho, on 9 December 1917, the son of James Hugh Angleton and his wife Carmen Mercedes Moreno.

OSS

Angleton was inducted into the US Army on 19 March 1943. By August, he had been offered work in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), thanks to the efforts of his father and his former professor Norman Pearson, both already OSS officers.

CIA

Angleton joined the CIA in late 1948 as an aide to the director of the Office of Special Operations.

Under Walter Bedell Smith in the early 1950s, Angleton served as Chief of Staff A (foreign intelligence operations.

In early 1951, Angleton acquired responsibility for liaison with Israel, as head of the newly created Special Operations Group.

In December 1954, Angleton became chief of the newly-formed CIA Counterintelligence Staff.

American Security Council

Angleton began working at the Washington office of the American Security Council in the summer of 1976. He served as President of an organization created by ASC and run out of the Council’s offices, known as the Security and Intelligence Fund. According to the ASC, Angleton gave a grim summary of the outlook for the CIA, during his first visit to the Council's Congressional Conference Center.

According to Angleton, the CIA’s counterintelligence division was effectively disbanded, and for all practical purposes covert operations were also shut down. He also said morale at Langley was dismal.

The ASC gives the following account of comments by Angleton, apparently at an ASC luncheon in May 1976:

Angleton said it was essential for America’s national security for both the CIA and the FBI to be rescued. He thought William Colby’s firing was an excellent start, and he had a high opinion of the current Director, George H.W. Bush. Because of the Church Committee and other investigations, he thought Bush needed considerable support. “This is the first time in history that the CIA needs overt public support, and we have to let the American people know what is happening,” Angleton said.

Affiliations

• Office of Strategic Services
• Central Intelligence Agency
• American Security Council

Connections

• William J. Hood - executive officer of the CIA Counterintelligence Division
• Mario Brod
• Jay Lovestone
• James Dudley

Intelligence fundamentalists

'Intelligence fundamentalists' is the term used by Tom Mangold for the counterintelligence officers who supported Angleton's belief in a monolithic Soviet threat.

• Raymond Rocca - Deputy Chief of the CIA Counterintelligence Division.
• Newton S. Miler - chief of operations of the CIA Counterintelligence Division.
• David Murphy - Chief of the CIA Soviet Russia Division c.1964.
• Joe Evans - Section chief, Counterintelligence Branch, Soviet Division, CIA.
• Peter Kapusta - Illegals section chief, Counterintelligence Branch, Soviet Division, CIA.
• Ed Petty
• Pete Bagley
• William Sullivan - FBI
• Sam Papich
• Arthur Martin - Head of D1 (Soviet counterespionage) MI5.
• Peter Wright - MI5.
• Stephen de Mowbray
• Philippe De Vosjoli - SDECE liaison officer in Washington 1951-1963

Molehunt targets

Operation HONETOL (CIA internal investigation)

• Peter Karlow
• Paul Garbler
• Vasia Gmirkin
• Richard Kovich
• David Chavchavadze

Operation GRIDIRON (Canada)

• James Bennett

Public figures

• Harold Wilson
• Olof Palme
• Willy Brandt
• Armand Hammer
• Averell Harriman
• Lester Pearson
• Henry Kissinger

Resources, Notes

Resources

• Spartacus Educational James Angleton, accessed 28 March 2009
• Edward Jay Epstein, James Jesus Angleton: The Orchid Man, edwardjayepstein.com
• David Robarge, Moles, Defectors, and Deceptions: James Angleton and CIA Counterintelligence, The Journal of Intelligence History, Winter 2003.
• Ronald Kessler, James Angleton’s Dangerous CIA Legacy, Newsmax, 28 March 2012.