The Secret Operation Revealed Decades Later

Operation Mockingbird: Spy on reporters

In a plot worthy of an Orwell novel, the CIA spied on two reporters between March and June 1963, who, according to the agency, disclosed sensitive national security information in national newspapers. The illegal activity, noted in documents declassified in 2007, included wiretaps on the reporters’ home and office telephones. The CIA noted that the project was “particularly productive in identifying contacts of the newsmen…including senators, members of Congress, and other well-placed individuals.”