Dear Progressive Reader,

One of the big surprises to come out of the nationally televised hearings of the January 6th committee was a chance to see the unedited drafts of Donald Trump’s two videos recorded on January 6 and 7. It was revealing to see the former President struggling with his inability to say that the election of 2020 was over. As cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates, “the video was not flattering.”

There was another surprise from Congress this week in the crafting (finally) of a bill with some elements to address the climate crisis that is currently ravaging the country and the globe. The 725-page bill will address many immediate clean energy needs, although, to appease Senator Joe Manchin, it also includes some support for fossil fuel production such as “new oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska” and makes it easier for “developers to override environmental objections when building pipelines.” In spite of these compromises, it remains, according to The Washington Post, “The nation’s biggest-ever climate bill.” As Leigh Raymond writes in an op-ed this week, “The proposal would make it easier for people to make their homes and vehicles more energy efficient, lowering costs without lowering comfort.” Plus, he continues, “Support for clean energy can also be tailored to ensure it improves environmental and economic conditions for communities of color.”

Elsewhere on our website this week, Jeff Abbott looks at the role that U.S.-made guns play in making crime more violent in Guatemala; Robert Davis examines the inability of police departments to police themselves; David Rosen reveals the importance of digital privacy in the wake of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Roe v. Wade; and LUNA reports on the People’s Parity Project conference on court reform. Plus, Mike Ervin discusses the thirty-second anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and his fears over the future challenges it may face.

Another anniversary passed this week as well. July 26 was the seventy-fifth anniversary of President Harry Truman’s signing of the National Security Act, which created the Central Intelligence Agency, or CIA. The CIA announced on its Twitter account earlier this year, “To commemorate our upcoming anniversary, we will share stories of our mission all throughout the year.”

The agency’s initial mandate was to be “a non-military agency that is responsible for the monitoring and reporting of the security of the country and its interests abroad to the President and his team of senior officials.” However, under the leadership of Allen Dulles in the 1950s and 1960s, the CIA’s mission grew and shifted. In a 2020 review of Scott Anderson’s book The Quiet Americans, I noted, “through stubbornness and ideological blindness, the CIA often, as Anderson puts it, ‘managed to snatch moral defeat from the jaws of sure victory, and be forever tarnished.’” The spy agency became known for its use of assassination plots, drones, and torture, all techniques that proved to be both immoral and unsuccessful, as former CIA operative Robert Baer told Ed Rampell in a 2014 interview.

In a somewhat odd coincidence, July 26 was also the anniversary of Truman’s 1948 signing of Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the U.S. military. The CIA remains one of the most segregated of government agencies. As ABC News reported in 2020, “For years, the intelligence community—made up of 17 federal agencies, including the CIA—has had one of the least diverse workforces in government, despite the fact that its mission is to analyze intelligence in dozens of languages and understand the nuances of diverse cultures in order to identify complex threats.” Just two weeks ago, in a little-reported incident, a noose was found near a secret CIA facility in Virginia, prompting director William Burns to issue a statement to employees saying that, “racism and racist symbols would not be tolerated in the agency.” But as former CIA agent Douglas London wrote for the blog Just Security, this may not be easy since “the prevailing atmosphere and culture continues to favor White, Christian men, particularly in the Clandestine Service, and most notably at the higher ranks.” As the Central Intelligence Agency celebrates its seventy-fifth birthday, it still has an organizational culture, as London explains, that “remains steeped in [the] CIA’s past, rather than today’s realities, let alone its future.”

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. – The Progressive is participating again this year in the annual Netroots Nation conference. From August 18-20, activists and strategists will gather in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for this in-person networking event. More than 4000 attendees and 400 featured speakers will participate in 100 panels and events during the three days. Jeff Bryant, lead fellow of our Public Schools Advocate project will be hosting a panel on Friday, August 19, titled “Democrats Desperately Need A Winning Strategy For Public Education.” For more information on the event and how to register to attend in person, or to view all of the sessions online, visit the registration page.

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