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Apparently in September 1973 a recommendation went to new Director of Central Intelligence William Colby for @CIA History Staff to produce unclassified histories for public release. The proposal responded to Colby& #39;s statement to Congress that the CIA should be more open. 1/x
It was modeled on work done by the Atomic Energy Commission& #39;s Historical Office. The CIA& #39;s History Staff put together a list of proposed topics for such unclassified history. None of this came to fruition but is it possible that some preliminary work got done? 2/
The History Staff proposed some very interesting topics and it& #39;s intriguing to imagine how the CIA& #39;s public image and place in the political debate might have been different (better? worse? I& #39;m not sure but different) had this program been implemented. 3/x
Among the topics proposed were 1) The Battle for Iran, estimated to be a six month project for a full-time author with some research assistance. 4/x
2) "A Communist Beach-head in Latin America," a nine month project. 5/x
3) "The Communist Bid in Africa," a four month project for one writer with some research assistance. 6/x
4) A topic which is completely redacted but which would have been a major research effort. 7/x
5) "The US Involvement in Vietnam," a two year project which seems to have been underway already. (Was that what became the Harold Ford histories? I& #39;d need to check dates.) 8/x
6) "The War in Laos," a one year project. The proposal includes an interesting comment on this one. 9/x
7) "The U-2," only a six month project because much of the research had already been done. It would have included taking oral histories. 10/x
8) "Analysis of Communist Intentions and Capabilities." 11/x A year+ project. Clearly the History Staff saw this one as challenging. But, as a former analyst, I so wish they& #39;d done it! 11/x
9) "The Communist Role in Cuba." 9 months research, one year of writing. I wonder what the redaction is... 12/x
