Robert Crowley
 Robert Crowley      (spook) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 13, 1924 |
| Died | October 8, 2000 (Age 76) |
| Alma mater | United States Military Academy |
| Member of | Association of Former Intelligence Officers |
Second in command of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which was in charge of covert operations. Source for several interesting interviews and lists, but of uncertain reliability. | |
Robert Trumbull Crowley was an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency beginning in 1947, achieving the rank of assistant director for clandestine operations, second in command of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, which was in charge of covert operations.[1]
Career
Crowley joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947. He worked under Frank Wisner, the head of the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). This became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the CIA. One of Crowley’s first major assignments within the agency was to assist in the recruitment and management of Nazis, especially those with intelligence experience. This included Reinhard Gehlen, chief of intelligence-gathering on the Eastern Front.[2]
Known as "The Crow" within the agency, recently declassified documents show that Crowley was involved in covert operations to overthrow Fidel Castro in the early 1960s.[2]
Russ Baker claims in Family of Secrets (2009) that Crowley "managed the CIA relations with cooperative multinational corporations like Ford Motor Company and International Telephone and Telegraph". Crowley told Trento that he sometimes used businessmen like George H. W. Bush to work for the CIA. "It was much easier to simply set someone up in business like Bush and let him take orders."[2]
According to one source, one of his "main jobs throughout his career was acting as the agency liaison with corporations like ITT, which the CIA often used as fronts for moving large amounts of cash off their books." It is also claimed that he was deeply involved in the efforts by the U.S. to overthrow the elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile.[2]
Conversations with the Crow
Gregory Douglas claimed to have conducted a series of interviews with Crowley in 1993, later published in 2013 in his book Conversations with the Crow.
The Institute for the Study of Globalisation and Covert Politics has some wonderful excerpts from the book and an analysis of Douglas' reliability.
References
- ↑ Washington Post, October 10, 2000.
- ↑ a b c d https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKcrowleyR.htm
