Book contents
- Spying in South Asia
- Spying in South Asia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Place Names
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Transfer of Power: British Intelligence and the End of Empire in South Asia
- 2 Silent Partners: Britain, India, and Early Cold War Intelligence Liaison
- 3 India’s Rasputin: V. K. Krishna Menon and the Spectre of Indian Communism
- 4 Quiet Americans: The CIA and the Onset of the Cold War in South Asia
- 5 Confronting China: The Sino-Indian War and Collaborative Covert Action
- 6 Peddling Propaganda: The Information Research Department and India
- 7 From Russia with Love: Dissidents and Defectors in Cold War India
- 8 The Foreign Hand: Indira Gandhi and the Politics of Intelligence
- 9 Battle of the Books: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Seymour Hersh, and India’s CIA ‘Agents’
- 10 Indian Intelligence and the End of the Cold War
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - Battle of the Books: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Seymour Hersh, and India’s CIA ‘Agents’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: aN Invalid Date NaN
- Spying in South Asia
- Spying in South Asia
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- A Note on Place Names
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Transfer of Power: British Intelligence and the End of Empire in South Asia
- 2 Silent Partners: Britain, India, and Early Cold War Intelligence Liaison
- 3 India’s Rasputin: V. K. Krishna Menon and the Spectre of Indian Communism
- 4 Quiet Americans: The CIA and the Onset of the Cold War in South Asia
- 5 Confronting China: The Sino-Indian War and Collaborative Covert Action
- 6 Peddling Propaganda: The Information Research Department and India
- 7 From Russia with Love: Dissidents and Defectors in Cold War India
- 8 The Foreign Hand: Indira Gandhi and the Politics of Intelligence
- 9 Battle of the Books: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Seymour Hersh, and India’s CIA ‘Agents’
- 10 Indian Intelligence and the End of the Cold War
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In 1979, the publication of Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s memoir, A Dangerous Place, reignited debates in the subcontinent over CIA interference in India’s internal affairs. Four years later, in 1983, a vituperative assault on Henry Kissinger published by the American investigative journalist, Seymour Hersh, in his book, The Price of Power, further fanned flames surrounding the CIA’s activities in India. Hersh’s book claimed that the former Indian prime minister, Morarji Desai, had been a CIA asset and passed intelligence to the Agency at the time of the Indo-Pakistan hostilities in 1971. The accusation levelled by Hersh, which prompted Desai to sue in an American court, served as a cause celébère, and saw Kissinger forced to take to publicly testify on CIA operations in India. This chapter examines how perceptions of the CIA in India towards the end of the Cold War were influenced by memoirs, books, and articles ‘exposing’ Agency misdeeds. It analyses the motivations behind such works, their impact on the Agency’s reputation at home and abroad, and the effectiveness of strategies employed by actors in India and the United States to enhance and suppress their reach.
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- Spying in South AsiaBritain, the United States, and India's Secret Cold War, pp. 209 - 232Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024