To the Point
The history of the CIA's covert wars
The CIA is perceived by most Americans as an organization of spies, tracking down foreign threats to the nation. That's still true, but decades ago, the CIA also became a full-fledged military institution.
The CIA is perceived by most Americans as an organization of spies, tracking down foreign threats to the nation. That's still true, but decades ago, the CIA also became a full-fledged military institution. When the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia were getting all the attention, the US was dropping more bombs on another country than it dropped in Europe and Asia during all of World War II. That country was Laos, and the agency directing the attacks was the CIA. That's according to Josh Kurlantzick, author of A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA. He's also a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.