Holy Spooks! CIA's "Bible Lesson on Spying" by Jon Elliston Dossier Editor pscpdocs@parascope.com In times of crisis, some people turn to a higher power for solace and guidance. When the Central Intelligence Agency's public standing hit the skids in the mid-1970s, one officer delved into scripture for insight on the ethics of "inherently insidious spying." The result, a study called "A Bible Lesson on Spying," suggested that even though the agency was under fire for operating in extreme secrecy, it would probably have to continue its clandestine ways. How did the Holy Bible become the source material for this odd bit of espionage analysis? A select group of Americans in the intelligence community knew the answer; they had access to the CIA's classified spy journal, Studies in Intelligence. The Fall 1978 issue carried the study, which was authored by one John M. Cardwell (or someone using that name as a pseudonym; disguised authorship was common in the CIA publication). The author began the study by taking note of the CIA's tribulations stemming from the "considerable scrutiny" of its operations in the media and in Congress. The agency, which had operated almost exclusively in secret since its founding in 1947, had finally been called to task for its assassination plots, mind control programs, domestic spying, foreign political manipulations and other skullduggery. The CIA was entering a difficult new era, one that would probably entail far greater public awareness of intelligence operations. "Today the CIA and the nation are confronted by a perplexing situation: how can we engage in secret operations with oversight of these operations lying essentially in the public domain (Congress) and conduct inherently insidious spying activities that must also conform to traditional non-spying standards of ethical conduct and morality," the study said. The word of God might clear up that question, the author reasoned: "Perhaps new perspectives can be found [in the Bible] that will offer guidance regarding how '... one Nation, under God...' should go about the business of spying." The study was a unique entry in the CIA's spy journal, but it was neither the first nor last time that America's spies dabbled in religion. In fact, the CIA has infiltrated and utilized religious groups in operations in dozens of countries. Religious sentiments, Christian and otherwise, have been manipulated in many a CIA propaganda operation. Documented examples of such operations abound. To name just a few: In the early 1960s, the agency secretly rallied Catholic leaders in Latin America against Cuba's revolutionary government and used the fish, an ancient sign of Christian resistance, as the symbol for anti-Castro rebellion. During the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations the CIA funneled political action funds through church authorities in Chile, as part of efforts to oppose leftist leader Salvador Allende. To keep tabs on dissident movements and social activists in Bolivia, the CIA gathered intelligence from Protestant missionaries working among the poor there. In the early 1980s, the Nicaraguan contras, a CIA-backed rebel group, dropped leaflets bearing the images of Jesus Christ and the Pope along with messages exhorting the reader to choose between the church and communism. The CIA Bible study skirts discussion of the propriety of such operations, focusing exclusively on the ethical and strategic implications of spy operations ordered by prominent Old Testament figures Moses and Joshua. These operations are apparently the "only two spying incidents in the Bible in which [intelligence] methods and sources are discussed in any detail," the study concluded. CIA-backed Nicaraguan contras attempted to politically manipulate religious sentiments with leaflets bearing the image of Jesus Christ. (Click here to view enlargement.)   Moses and Joshua were just the type of dramatic leaders you would want in a good spy story. If the Bible is to be believed, the two men had a hand in such momentous events as the freeing of Egypt's Hebrew slaves, a series of miracles in the desert, the receipt of God's Ten Commandments, and the conquest of Canaan, the "Promised Land" said to "flow with milk and honey." Moses sent twelve spies on a fateful foray into that territory when his people were first plotting their attack. In a straightforward account paraphrased from the Bible text, the CIA study recounts how ten of the twelve returned with foreboding warnings of the strength and size of the adversaries and insisted that the mission to seize Canaan be abandoned. The remaining two dissented and backed the planned invasion. Moses' people listened to the doubting spies, and as a result God banished them to the wilderness for 40 years. The CIA study finds a lesson here: "the Moses operation suffered from complications that arose because of oversight and political issues." Though "the spies successfully accomplished all mission objectives," they were too tied to their tribal constituencies to favor bold military action. In addition, the "oversight" -- the public airing of the spies' fears about the enemy -- had disillusioned the public. "Taken overall," the study says, "it can be argued that the negative report of the spies and the loss of control over the situation was actually stimulated because of too much oversight and the tightly controlled administrative procedures used." For a CIA facing unprecedented monitoring by Congress, the moral of the story seemed to be that the agency was better off in the shadows -- doing as it saw fit, unfettered by public scrutiny. Fast-forward 40 years in the biblical account, and Moses' people are now led by Joshua. They are about to emerge from their nomadic existence and attempt to seize the Promised Land. The first city they will strike is Jericho, and to scope it out Joshua dispatches two spies. The agents made it into the city, the Bible says, but word of their presence reached the authorities. On the run, Joshua's spies found safe haven with a local identified as "Rahab the harlot." Not only did she save their lives, she offered valuable intelligence that told Joshua the citizens of Jericho feared his forces. Shortly thereafter Jericho fell to Joshua's troops, and the conquest of the Promised Land was finally underway. Again the CIA analyst concluded that a Bible tale highlighted the need for firm secrecy: "Joshua's operation, conducted in private by professionals, led to an achievement of national destiny." The study also pointed out that the spying success had depended on Rahab, and that her status as a harlot led to "no moral judgment" by Joshua. The case does make for a fitting comparison, in that the CIA has often argued that it must rely on unsavory foreign agents -- including drug-runners, torturers and murderers -- for the dirty work of intelligence gathering. Is it a sin to spy? Dossier posted the full CIA Bible study online -- so click here, give the document your prayerful consideration, and decide for yourself. © Copyright 1999 ParaScope, Inc. Dossier: Covert Ops & Secret Documents Documents Archive: Declassified Secrets The ParaStore: Books, Zines & More