CIA & Intelligence

It perhaps has not been much noticed much over the holidays, but in November, the editors and publishers of five of the world’s best-known news organizations released an open letter…

In recent articles, we at have worked to bring readers a series of deep, multi-part investigations of questionable historical actions performed by the U.S. intelligence community. Those articles have proven…

The American Spark has decided to discuss a few key, well-documented instances in which U.S. officials worked to overthrow foreign governments too left-wing for their personal taste. The next three…

By Cliff Montgomery – Aug. 31st, 2019Edward Gibbon, the historian who wrote Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, believed that one had to go to the earliest possible sources…

By Cliff Montgomery – July 31st, 2019With Donald Trump in the White House, it’s important to remind ourselves of how previous U.S. administrations worked to overthrow foreign leaders they thought…

By Cliff Montgomery – June 30th, 2019The first of the American Spark’s promised studies on U.S. socio-economic hit-men will discuss the part they played in the 1953 coup of Iran’s…

By Cliff Montgomery – May 31st, 2019War is the continuation of politics by other means. – Carl von ClausewitzVice President Mike Pence recently told the West Point Class of 2019…

By Cliff Montgomery – Oct. 30th, 2018Should America continue to trust the government of Saudi Arabia in light of the fact that a top journalist recently ‘disappeared’ at a Saudi…

By Cliff Montgomery – July 31st, 2018Most people understand the importance of keeping a leash on U.S. intelligence organizations like the C.I.A. Few people would think of keeping a similar…

By Cliff Montgomery – June 30th, 2018Covert actions and clandestine activities remain some of the greatest threats to a functional democracy.Just consider that the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military…

By Cliff Montgomery – Jan. 30th, 2018“The Supreme Court has never directly addressed the extent to which Congress may constrain the executive branch’s power” regarding the classification of national security…

By Cliff Montgomery – Jan. 28th, 2018It’s essential for a democracy to have a well-informed public. For a public to be well-informed, it needs journalists and other professional watchdogs who…

By Cliff Montgomery – Nov. 29th, 2017Since Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. government employs a previously little-known section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to potentially spy on…

By Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 30th, 2017A lot of frightened politicians would love to see American courts prosecute government whistle-blowers like Edward Snowden or watchdog organizations like WikiLeaks – it…

By Cliff Montgomery – Sept. 5th, 2016Even though U.S. officialshave long claimed that the National Security Agency (NSA) possesses onlya limited, minimal legal authority to collect data on Internetcommunications, a…

By Cliff Montgomery – June 18th, 2016The U.S. Senate is quietly considering “legislation that would empower the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to obtain your Internet records without a warrant”…

By Cliff Montgomery – May 30th, 2016 Congress is considering two bills which might expand the ability of the public to discover what U.S. government officials are actually doing in…

By Cliff Montgomery – June 15th, 2015 The Congressional Research Service (CRS) prepares top-notch reports on major political issues for U.S. Congressional members and committees. In February, CRS released a…

By Cliff Montgomery – May 31st, 2015“Encryption and anonymity enable individuals to exercise their rights to freedom of opinion and expression in the digital age and, as such, deserve strong…

By Cliff Montgomery – May 28th, 2015Last weekend, the Senate defeated every legislative attempt to extend a controversial section of the so-called ‘Patriot Act’, which federal officials offer as a…

By Cliff Montgomery – May 12th, 2015Now it’s official. Last week, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the National Security Agency’s massive collection of telephone records is illegal. “A provision…

By Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 30th, 2015Many cyber-analysts believe there is a “need for enhanced and timely exchange of cyber-threat intelligence, both within the private sector and between the private…

By Cliff Montgomery – Apr. 23rd, 2015Congress has failed to curb U.S. intelligence agencies’ use of National Security Letters (NSLs) – documents which in essence are administrative subpoenas created without…