The Secret Team
The Secret Team: The CIA and Its Allies in Control of the United States and the World (ISBN 0-13-798173-2) is a book by L. Fletcher Prouty, a former colonel in the US Air Force, first published in 1973.[1]
From 1955 to 1963 Prouty was the "Focal Point Officer" for contacts between the CIA and the Pentagon on matters relating to military support for "special operations" but he was not assigned to the CIA and was not bound by any oath of secrecy. (From the first page of the 1974 Printing) It was one of the first tell-all books about the inner workings of the CIA and was an important influence on the Oliver Stone movie JFK. The book details how the CIA started as a think tank to analyze intelligence and states that the CIA had no authority to run their own agents or to carry out covert operations but that they quickly did both and much more. The book provides many details about the organization's activities and how they operate. In Prouty's own words, from the 1997 edition of The Secret Team:
- "This is the fundamental game of the Secret Team. They have this power because they control secrecy and secret intelligence and because they have the ability to take advantage of the most modern communications system in the world, of global transportation systems, of quantities of weapons of all kinds, and when needed, the full support of a world-wide U.S. military supporting base structure. They can use the finest intelligence system in the world, and most importantly, they have been able to operate under the canopy of an assumed, ever-present enemy called "Communism." It will be interesting to see what "enemy" develops in the years ahead. " [L. Fletcher Prouty, Alexandria, VA 1997]
The work
- LOC Catalogue card:
- LC Control No.: 72013361
- Type of Material: Book (Print, Microform, Electronic, etc.)
- Personal Name: Prouty, L. Fletcher (Leroy Fletcher), 1917-
- Main Title: The secret team: the CIA and its allies in control of the United States and the world [by] L. Fletcher Prouty.
- Published/Created: Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall [1973]
- Description: xiv, 496 p. 24 cm.
- ISBN 0137981732
- Notes: Bibliography: p. [481]
- Subjects: United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
- Intelligence service--United States.
- Espionage, American.
- LC Classification: JK468.I6 P76
- Dewey Class No.: 327/.12
Secret Team
The Secret Team, or ST, is a phrase coined by L. Fletcher Prouty in 1973, alleging a covert alliance between the United States' military, intelligence, and private sectors to influence political decisions. He suggests the existence of a covert alliance between certain people within the U.S. intelligence community, the United States military, and American private industry who use their collective wealth, influence, and resources to manipulate current events to steer public policy and maximize profits. The term is pejorative since he accuses the organizations of prioritizing their personal fortunes above the national interest, as well as eliminating any opposition, whether through targeted propaganda or assassination.
The phrase has also been used by the Christic Institute in their investigation of the La Penca bombing in Nicaragua.
Eisenhower's alleged prediction
According to Prouty, the existence of ST was predicted and warned of by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address to the nation in 1961 when he spoke of the military-industrial complex. Prouty states that after eight years of exposure to the American defense establishment as President, Eisenhower knew that a disproportionate amount of influence rested in the hands of the ST, and he warned the public that this influence threatened the purity of American democracy.