The Asia Foundation’s CIA Roots
The Asia Foundation now claims to be totally independent, but the foundation had its start as a CIA front, funded in its entirety by the agency.
Here, Mike Lenz digs into newly declassified U.S. State Department documents that tell the history and transitions impacting The Asia Foundation. It began in 1954 as a spinoff of the Committee for a Free Asia. Over the years, it sought to topple or undermine communist nations like China and North Korea, and shore up democratic nations.
Direct CIA support ended in the 1960s. Since then, some funds still come from the State Department as well as the recently gutted USAIDS but the bulk of the money comes from non-governmental organizations, like the Ford Foundation. Still, Benz shows, there have remained linkages between the CIA and USAIDS.
