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's statement to Congress that the CIA should be more open. 1/x

It was modeled on work done by the Atomic Energy Commission's Historical Office. The CIA'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's intriguing to imagine how the CIA's public image and place in the political debate might have been different (better? worse? I'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'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'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