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Through a Glass, Darkly: The CIA and Oral History
Author(s) -
Hammond Andrew
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.12
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1468-229X
pISSN - 0018-2648
DOI - 10.1111/1468-229x.12098
Subject(s) - oral history , relation (database) , interview , sociology , history , epistemology , intellectual history , field (mathematics) , political history , law , political science , anthropology , politics , philosophy , computer science , economic history , database , mathematics , pure mathematics
Abstract This article broaches the thorny issue of how we may study the history of the CIA by utilizing oral history interviews. This article argues that while oral history interviews impose particular demands upon the researcher, they are particularly pronounced in relation to studying the history of intelligence services. This article, nevertheless, also argues that while intelligence history and oral history each harbour their own epistemological perils and biases, pitfalls which may in fact be pronounced when they are conjoined, the relationship between them may nevertheless be a productive one. Indeed, each field may enrich the other provided we have thought carefully about the linkages between them: this article's point of departure. The first part of this article outlines some of the problems encountered in studying the CIA by relating them to the author's own work. This involved researching the CIA 's role in US foreign policy towards Afghanistan since a landmark year in the history of the late C old W ar, 1979 (i.e. the year the S oviet U nion invaded that country). The second part of this article then considers some of the issues historians must confront when applying oral history to the study of the CIA . To bring this within the sphere of cognition of the reader the author recounts some of his own experiences interviewing CIA officers in and around W ashington DC . The third part then looks at some of the contributions oral history in particular can make towards a better understanding of the history of intelligence services and the CIA .