“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

Wall at CIA Headquarters

Etched into the wall in marble at CIA headquarters:

“And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32.

Something is missing.

As he was dying from lung cancer, the legendary Machiavellian CIA head of Counterintelligence, James Jesus Angelton, provided author Joseph J. Trento this confession:

“You know how I got to be in charge of counterintelligence? I agreed not to polygraph or require detailed background checks on Allen Dulles and 60 of his closest friends . . . They were afraid that their own business dealings with Hitler’s pals would come out. They were too arrogant to believe that the Russians would discover it all . . .

Fundamentally, the founding fathers of U.S. intelligence were liars. The better you lied and the more you betrayed, the more likely you would be promoted. These people attracted and promoted each other. Outside of their duplicity, the only thing they had in common was a desire for absolute power. I did things that, in looking back on my life, I regret. But I was part of it and loved being in it . . . Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, Carmel Offiie, and Frank Wisner were the grand masters. If you were in a room with them you were in a room full of people that you had to believe would deservedly end up in hell. I guess I will see them there soon.“

Joseph J. Trento, The Secret History of the CIA, pages 478-479. (Thanks to Charles Burris for this quote.)