Michigan State University
universityPublic Land grant Sea grant
| Michigan State University link () Sourcewatch Website | |
|---|---|
| Motto | Advancing Knowledge. Transforming Lives. |
| Headquarters | Michigan,USA |
| Type | Public Land grant Sea grant |
| Other name | Spartans |
Academic cover
From 1955-59, Michigan State University had a $25 million contract with the CIA to provide academic cover to five CIA agents stationed in South Vietnam who performed such jobs as drafting the government's constitution, and providing police training and weapons to the repressive Diem government. The constitution included a provision requiring the South Vietnamese to carry voter identification cards. Citizens without such cards were assumed to be supporters of the Vietcong, and faced arrest or worse by the regime's police.[1]
In 1956, while the MSU operation was in full swing, the CIA established the Asia Foundation, providing it with approximately $88 million in funding each year. The foundation sponsored research, supported conferences, ran academic exchange programs, funded anti-communist academics in various Asian countries, and recruited foreign agents and new case officers. Large numbers of American academics participated in the program. [2]
In 1968, George Rawick, a sociology professor at Oakland University was approached by James R. Hooker, of Michigan State University's African Studies Center for recruitment into the CIA. Hooker, a professor with a liberal-left reputation, used an interesting argument. Hooker's rationale for working with the CIA was, "None of us are ever going to get an intelligent approach unless we get trained intelligent people in there to tell us what's going on. If we rely on yahoos, look what we're going to get."[3]
References
- ↑ William Blum, The CIA: A Forgotten History (London: Zed Books, 1986), p. 140.
- ↑ Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks, CIA and the Cult of Intelligence (New York: Dell Publishing, 1974), pp. 150-151.
- ↑ Ken Lawrence, Academics: An Overview," in Dirty Work II: The CIA in Africa , Ellen Ray, et. al. (eds.) (Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1980), p. 81.
