Nazis in the CIA

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After the end of World War II, a large number of intelligence agents from the Gestapo, German army intelligence and other groups in the Nazi intelligence apparatus were recruited by the CIA even though they had war crime records. The CIA and Nazi sympathizers such as the US military governor of the US occupation zone in Germany, John Jay McCloy facilitated the pardon and protection of Nazi industrialists and other Nazi officials especially those serving in the Nazi intelligence apparatus. These included Klaus Barbie "The Butcher of Lyon", and the head of German Army intelligence Reinhard Gehlen. Reinhard Gehlen organized the Gehlen group which recruited many of the ex-Nazi agents for this spy network. Gehlen later became the head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst, West Germany's foreign intelligence agency. There have been suspicions that the CIA also recruited Heinrich Muller, the head of the Gestapo, but this has not been proven.

Nazi intelligence agents working for the CIA were generally experts on intelligence on the Soviet Union and this was the reason why they were so important to the CIA. The CIA used the network of Nazi sympathizers within Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to gather intelligence, set up possible sabotage operations, and conduct other covert operations. These ex-Nazis also set up the Gladio networks of right wing fascists who would start a covert insurgency in Western Europe in the case of a Soviet invasion. The CIA is believed to have used ex-Nazis, many of whom fled to South America from Germany were recruited to work for the CIA. The CIA also recruited Nazi scientists to work for the CIA's technical division which developed biological and chemical weapons for use as weapons of assassination. The CIA used primitive drones carrying sugar cane fungus to contaminate Cuban sugar fields which led to tremendous problems in Cuba and it is believed that ex-Nazis were involved in this plan.

[edit] External links

• National Security Archive Reference
• BBC Reference
• Riflewarrior.com Reference
• CNN Reference
• MSNBC Reference