(Allen, the shady Dulles brother)
Allen Dulles was head of the CIA from 1953-1961, putting him smack in the middle of the Cold War, the Middle East, Vietnam, the Red Scare, just about everything America found itself knee deep in during the Eisenhower years. It is also interesting to note that his brother, John Foster Dulles was Secretary of State during that time (until his death in 1959) - no doubt it was an interesting atmosphere around Washington then. But in 1968 we had the infamous Pueblo Incident, where an admitted spy ship was seized in North Korean waters and the resulting embarrassment lasted for years. Dulles comfortably assesses the damage from the comfort of his retirement. As always, the Cold War has really never ended, especially in 1968.
In this interview, conducted by Mitchell Krauss for the NET series "Newsfront" in February of 1968, Dulles busily promotes his new book "Great True Spy Stories" and skillfully evades some pertinent questions.
Allen Dulles: (with reference to the Pueblo incident) “It is very important to get the type of intelligence that a ship like the Pueblo can gather. And therefore it was reasonable that it should be in that general area in order to carry out its mission. Obviously, it’s important to know what the possible antagonist is planning and doing and so forth and so on. One of the ways is to pick up from the airwaves, you know, what he’s saying.”
All in all, a rather easy game of softball, but one of the rare interviews done by someone who certainly knew where all the mummies were buried.
