Scholarly Espionage in Colombia
In early 1972 James Icenhour, a graduate student in political science, conducted field research in Colombia for his study of the Colombian military forces. The research, Icenhour told his...
...This includes the development of programs for U.S...
...CICYP is considered the principal policy-formulation body of the businessmen of the Hemisphere...
...In 1966 the Brookings Institution, with financial support from the Ford Foundation, conducted a study on "Civic Development in Colombia...
...In any case, there can be little doubt that Icenhour's data is going straight to the Pentagon...
...The intent of the study is to determine the political persuasion of the workers, establish the nature of their fraternal and political organizations, and develop an analysis that facilitates the control of the working class as well as the "marginal sectors" of urban Colombia...
...In fact, "despite the furor produced by Camelot, Pentagon spending on social science research has increased steadily since the project was terminated...
...A retired Air Force colonel and former member of the U.S...
...And although Accion is a private entity, it attempts to coordinate its activities closely with those of the Colombian government...
...8. This foundation, supported by the progressive Colombian publishing house of the same name, was merely the institutional cover for the Brookings project...
...His most interesting government stint was in 1961, prior to and during the Bay of Pigs invasion...
...emphasis added] U.S...
...COUP PREDISPOSITION -- The greatest threat to Colombia is to be found within the country itself and the most appropriate instrument to combat it is the Colombian military forces...
...6. The Council of the Americas is technically the U.S...
...The investigation was tested first in the Barrio (neighborhood) Venecia (where Accion has one of its community action programs), and then began with the workers from Eternit...
...policy strategists to predict and manipulate the actions of various Third World population sectors or elites...
...7, November, 1971...
...and a sampling of junior grade and non-commissioned officers...
...Any 40 students, any 40 businessmen, etc, would do...
...section of CICYP, and all of the U.S...
...Yet like many other "independent" university thinktanks, HumRRO has retained an unofficial relationship with George Washington through its personnel and board of directors...
...In addition to the military study, social scientists are currently conducting a survey of the Colombian working class that has many counterinsurgency implications...
...All the groups which form the national society can live in harmony without the necessity of changing the system at all...
...mission in the Colombian Ministry of Defense...
...MILITARY ROLE -- A practical knowledge of the English language whould be a requisite for promotion to the rank of general or admiral...
...of Colombian political leaders and their attitudes, rather than an anonymous, aggregate analysis of the different groups...
...Yohai is currently on the staff of McNamara's World Bank, where he is involved in a project on India and Chile...
...In all, 800 Colombian military personnel were surveyed...
...30 - KNOWING THE ELITE The Colombian political "elite" has also been the object of social science intelligence research...
...Upon returning to Colombia, Yohai became the Director of Accion Comunal, the community development program of the national government...
...In the last analysis, it depends upon the Colombian military forces themselves to determine under what circumstances the military have the justification to intervene in politics...
...CODI (subsidiary of Mobil Oil Co...
...The civilians evidently served as a bogus "control group," to maintain the academic veneer of the study...
...5 Thus as a part of its community action program, Accion systematically collects information on one of the most volatile sectors of Colombian society -the urban barrio...
...He then attempted to use his dismissal to appeal to various left-leaning popular groups such as the Usuarios Campesinos (see NACLA's Latin America & Empire Report, Vol...
...The research, Icenhour told his Colombian subjects, was "part of an academic investigation for the thesis that will be presented for the degree of doctor of philosophy" at George Washington University...
...Eternit (construction materials), Iconllantas (tires - a subsidiary of B.F...
...Using a pre-coded questionnaire, he interviewed all of the cadets at the army, air force and naval academies...
...And unlike most academic studies, his was conducted from the offices of the U.S...
...3 It is particularly significant that a study as sensitive as Icenhour's could be accomplished in Colombia, where public exposure in 1966 of Plan Simpatico 4 and its military implications stirred even the Congress into action...
...Though very expensive, the Brookings study was never developed further and the results have never been published...
...Staff members include Cecilia Guerra, Helena Jidy Abraham, and Julio Aldana...
...Icenhour's study fits quite nicely into this focus, and it certainly wouldn't be difficult for HumRRO to arrange Icenhour's student status with George Washington...
...Both of these factors are commonly cited in the social science literature as potential "triggers" for military intervention in politics...
...3) Departmental (i.e., State) Deputies[298...
...Headed by John Plank (see BOX), this study was designed to "examine the present political system of Colombia, exploring the attitudes of key groups and the structure and functions of major institutions...
...2 Yet the widespread denunciation of social science used for counterinsurgency, particularly after the disclosure of projects Camelot in Chile and Simpatico in Colombia, had supposedly led to the cancellation of this type of project...
...all of the senior grade army officers below the rank of general...
...It was very similar to Project Camelot in Chile, and met stiff public opposition for the same reasons...
...4) High Bureaucrats [56...
...This paper by Jiri Hehnevajsa and Aldo C. Scafari, entitled "Images of Colombia, 1970: Futures Project," was completed under a subcontract (SORO-6 Pitt-2Da 49-092-ARO-7) to the Department of Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh...
...Accion de Colombia, the sponsor of the study, was established in July of 1970 as a private, non-profit organization dedicated to "stimulating the development of the marginal urban population in the principal cities of Colombia...
...7. From a speech given by Kendall at the Quinta Conferencia Anual of CICYP, as recorded in its Boletin Informativo, 1970...
...8, December 1971...
...The survey, a comprehensive inquiry into political attitudes concerning national and international issues, was administered to 1003 members of the Colombian elite...
...Its stated goal was "to identify some of the factors of the development of military leadership in Colombia and to facilitate the correlation of these factors with the historical development of the Colombian Military Forces...
...Armed Forces.- 28 - personnel assigned to military missions, advisory groups, and other agencies that bring them into contact with foreign military personnel...
...The exact nature of the information sought can be seen from the questions in the accompanying box...
...See Arthur M. Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, pp...
...In addition, though the questionnaire claimed that all information would be kept anonymous and confidential, it solicited enough career trajectory information to make personal identification of the respondent possible.- 27 - _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I The questionnaire itself consisted of some 42 statements, to which the respondent selected from these five options: approve emphatically, approve, don't know, disapprove, disapprove emphatically...
...It has been clear since the mid-1960's that social science research is being used by U.S...
...In addition, these Colombian social scientists had been refused participation in the analysis of the data (which was to be done in Washington), and were not even informed of how the information was going to be used...
...corporate dignitaries...
...At the present time Colombia is dominated by privileged high classes that attempt to maintain the traditional social order with a minimum of change...
...If civilization is to survive there should be a return to religion...
...The information gathered about political attitudes, relationships, and organizations, about existing and latent problems within the community, and about the local leadership, is precisely what the United States and its Colombian allies require if they are to thwart the potential rebelliousness of the urban proletariat...
...1l Mr...
...He has been a consultant for a variety of other organizations, including the Ford Foundation...
...6 So despite all the philanthropic jargon, the purpose of Accion is clearly to head off any threat to business "stability" from the marginal classes...
...V, No...
...Icenhour, however, was no ordinary graduate student...
...The following article describes these three social science research projects...
...A third case is a study by the Brookings Institutions in Washington D.C...
...The study generated dissention within the Bogota...
...military mission to Colombia, he brought a special "competence" to his research topic...
...Before its termination in 1966, Simpatico researchers completed the core elements of the Project, and at least one paper has been published...
...A consideration of fundamental importance in any society is the protection of property rights...
...Action de Colombia is supported financially by virtually all of the largest corporations in Colombia (many U.S.-owned), and is directed by the leading corporate figures of the country...
...Plank was the right man for the job...
...INSPECTING THE RANKS Icenhour's study was a reasonably sophisticated attitudinal survey of the Colombian officer corps...
...INSPECTING THE RANK AND FILE The military is not the only sector of Colombian society of interest to intelligence circles in the United States...
...The reports came from lower-level researchers within the proJect who said the questionnaires were being sent to Washington identified...
...of New Jersey) Fondo de Crecimiento Ingetec Ltda...
...Yohai presented himself as a leftist, and was eventually dismissed from his post...
...2. More information on social science as counterinsurgency can be found in Subliminal Warfare (New York: NACLA, 1970) and UniversityMilitary-Police Complex (New York: NACLA, 1970...
...In addition, the survey dealt with attitudes concerning the sufficiency of the military budget and the fairness of the promotion system...
...on the Colombian political elite which, though abandoned several years ago, has evidently yielded enough data to be of value to its imperial sponsors...
...The government should participate mote actively in programming the development of the economy...
...Along with Harvard colleague William Barnes, Plank was "to suggest guiding principles for a sensible and progressive platform...
...delegates to CICYP are also members of the Council...
...More recent reports, however, indicate that the gathering of military and political intelligence through "social science" research has not been halted...
...The executive director of Accion de Colombia is Gerard Robert Dobb, a former Peace Corps volunteer...
...It operates as the philanthropic arm of the Colombian bus- iness community, and represents at the socio- political level the "integration" of U.S.-Colom- bian interests that the joint venture represents in the economic field...
...The business controlled by foreign capital has too much influence in Colombia's national life...
...The Colombian military forces should be interested in the training and educational programs sponsored by the U.S...
...In other words, they were to make counterrevolutionary reactionaries look like democratic liberals...
...243ff...
...In 1969 he was Director of the Council on Foreign Relations project to brief Nelson Rockefeller for his trip to Latin America...
...Goodrich), Manuelita (sugar), and Union Carbide (chemicals), all of which involve substantial amounts of foreign capital...
...He still serves as a consultant to the State Department, and is a member of the Civilian Faculty Advisory Committee of the National War College (though he is a practicing Quaker and has long been associated with the American Friends Service Committee...
...These "questions" sought information along three basic dimensions: (1) the respondent's ideological persuasion (on a simple left-right scale), (2) his predisposition toward military coups, and (3) his attitude toward the U.S...
...The investigators are given the names and addresses of the workers by the companies, and then proceed to interview them in their homes...
...Colombia should establish commercial and diplomatic relations with Cuba...
...The president of Accion de Colombia, for example, is the president of Celanese Colombiana, the U.S...
...Although it is unclear who paid for the study, George Washington University's intimate connection with the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) raises an interesting possibility...
...military in Colombia...
...No regular enlisted men were included...
...For more on Plank and the CFR, see NACLA's Latin America & Empire Report, Vol...
...Icenhour's Questionnaire IDEOLOGICAL PERSUASION -- If you begin to change things too much, they generally turn out worse than they were before...
...HumRRO receives most of its income from the Army, and has as one of its primary responsibilities the development of new training methods for soldiers...
...Accion International, which initiated and now oversees the Colombian operation, has simi- lar operations in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina and Costa Rica...
...5) Intellectuals[155] (mostly journalists...
...As a citizen of the Republic, a military man has the right as well as the duty to be interested in political affairs...
...Unlike the military samples, however, the 200 civilians were selected without any consideration whatsoever for accepted (social science) sampling procedures...
...The missions of the United States Armed Forces in Colombia are currently not of much importance for the Colombian military forces...
...No doubt he was aided by Plank's long association with Harvard, since he lacked a Bachelors Degree, and had originally been a medical student at the National University in Bogota...
...4. Developed under the sponsorship of American University's Special Operations Research Office (SORO), which later became CRESS, Plan Simpatico was designed to identify significant potential areas of internal war or subversion in Colombia...
...subsidiary that has given Colombia its last two presidents (current President Pastrana, and his predeces- sor, Lleras Restrepo, who have both been Celanese executives...
...After working for the U.S.-sponsored "Colombo-Americano" cultural exchange institute and then serving as sub-director of the Brookings study, Yohai was admitted to the graduate program in Political Science at Harvard...
...Evidently, an analysis of the data in aggregate form was not considered necessary...
...The fact that the Colombian Military Command not only permitted but facilitated the study, leads us to believe that the top generals in Colombia also wish to know what their officer corps is thinking...
...These people came from six groups: (1) National Leaders [140] (presidents, ministers, the national directorates of the political parties, and directors of administrative agencies...
...The study involves the workers of four Accion de Colombia Directors BUSINESS AFFILIATION Robert M. Bischoff Ignacio Copete Lizarralde Rodrigo Gutierrez Jaime Lizarralde Lora Richard Lloyd Simon J. Martinez Jaime Michelsen Uribe German Montoya William Nutt Pablo Obregon Carlos S. Ospina Pablo E. Pareja Eduardo Puyana James A. Therrien Alberto Vargas Martinez Texas Petroleum Company Corporacion Financiera Colombiana (a private "development" bank with 47% foreign capital and a director from Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company) Corona Organization Celanese Colombiana (subsidiary of Celanese Corporation) General Electric de Colombia Interamerican Action Committee (represents the Council of the Americas in Colombia) Banco de Colombia (part of the powerful Grancolombiano financial group) Colmotores (subsidiary of Chrysler) International Petroleum Company (owned by Standard Oil Co...
...NAME- 29 - companies...
...7 John Plank Before joining the Brookings Institution in 1964, Plank spent a year and a half as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis for American Republics, Bureau of Research and Intelligence, U.S...
...It appears likely that he will return to Colombia in time for the 1974 presidential elections, and work closely with ex-president, and 1974 hopeful, Carlos Lleras Restrepo.- 31 - 5. Both of these quotes are translated from a mimeographed publication of Accion de Colombia, Bogota, 1971...
...The Colombian military have as their primary responsibility protecting the sovereignty, independence, integrity and stability of the Republic...
...David & Eduardo Puyana (importers) Banco del Comercio (controlling interest held by Chase Manhattan Bank) Petroquimica Colombiana (an affiliate of the Diamond Shamrock Co...
...Its founder, Joseph Blatchford, is the current (Nixon-appointed) director of the Peace Corps...
...V, No...
...Thus in a country where a military coup is generally recognized as a distinct possibility, Icenhour gathered information from the military about that very possibility...
...and (6) Departmental Party Chiefs[72...
...Yet the United States is evidently not the only party anxious to see Icenhour's data...
...In addition, it receives the full support of the Interamerican Council of Commerce and Production (CICYP), the interamerican counterpart of the Council of the Americas...
...The worker is led to believe, however, that he was selected by chance, and has no idea that this "casual" interview is connected with the company...
...Under Plank's supervision and the cover of the Fundacion Tercer Mundo of Bogota, 8 the actual survey was conducted by Jose Recasens (project director) and Samuel Yohai (sub-director, see BOX...
...Plank was brought in during the last minute preparations, when problems developed with Miro Cardona's exile Revolutionary Council...
...The survey also had a civilian component...
...social science community when the study was reported to be a virtual "Who's Who...
...the intelligence objectives of the study were adequately served by the raw data collected on individual attitudes...
...Any investment of any business that creates this climate, is an investment for our own benefit...
...By Raul Montenegro REFERENCES 1. These two quotes, as well as the questionnaire items in the box are translated directly from a copy of Icenhour's questionnaire...
...For more on Simpatico, see Gregorio Selser, EspionaJe en America Latina (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Iguazu, 1966), Chapter 4. Samuel Yohai Samuel Yohai offers a case in point of how a local collaborator can personally profit from participation in this type of research...
...Department of State...
...should be controlled by the government...
...2) Congressmen[322...
...The personnel contracted were not associated with Tercer Mundo, and their relationship to it was only nominal...
...The statements of the Council, which was to create a provisional government in Cuba, were considered to be too far to the right to be able to attract support from the Cuban people or international opinion...
...Accion's president is Donald Kendall of Pepsi Cola, and its board is loaded with other U.S...
...Through the local branch of Accion International (see explanation below), investigators are examining the political attitudes of workers in the principal industries of the country...
...In fact, in the italicized question, he puts it right on the line...
...Originally a unit of the University, HumRRO was officially reconstituted as an independent research organization in 1969 following student demonstrations...
...As Kendall has said, "Business grows more in a social climate of peace, productivity and human satisfaction...
...See box on Board of Directors...
...3. Michel T. Klare, War Without End (New York: Knopf, 1972), p. 100...
...It has already established "self- help" 'programs in several barrios in Bogota and toward this end recognizes the necessity to "develop a system of analysis and evaluation that will measure the organizational and administrative capacity of a community and will register the changes produced...
...All the basic industries (for example: banking, mines, petroleum, transportation, etc...
...CICYP has explicitly endorsed the activities of Accion, and encourages its member delegates to provide material support for the local Accion agencies...
Vol. 6 • July 1972 • No. 6
