The Hidden Humor of Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and Lack of Intelligence…….
“CHAPPAQUA, NY—After more than 60 years of redacting classified but amusing anecdotes from Reader's Digest's popular Humor in Uniform section, the CIA announced Monday that the full text of thousands of previously censored jokes will now be made available to the public. Submitted to the monthly magazine by covert field operatives, paramilitary officers, and black-ops specialists, the lighthearted vignettes have for decades only appeared with their most sensitive and hilarious details obscured. "Since the dawn of the Cold War, certain humorous materials have been kept from the American public in the name of national security," CIA director Leon Panetta said at a press conference. "But thanks to recent declassification efforts and the Freedom of Information Act, citizens will now be able to see for themselves what exactly was so funny about the historical goofs and gaffes of this agency's most confidential overseas operations." Added Panetta, "Never before has so much laughter been brought to light." Panetta pointed out several "rib-tickling gags" relating to the 1973 Chilean coup, the Iran-Contra Affair, and the rise of crack cocaine, all of which had their punch lines blacked-out when originally published…....”
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Gee, I sure hope the CIA will do something to improve other READERS DIGEST content. After all these years the magazine still reads like a Voice of American handbook - or a speech by Margaret Thatcher - "There is no community, only individuals and their families." "There is no alternative." "The only way to improve things is my individual effort and positive thinking." I write about Project Mockingbird and the extensive involvement of the CIA Office of Information in the mass media and publishing industry in my recent memoir THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE (I currently live in exile in New Zealand).
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